Indigenous people demand Lula and promise to close highways – 05/25/2023 – Daily life

Indigenous leaders demand from President Lula (PT) commitment to reverse the decision of the National Congress that implodes the newly created Ministry of Indigenous Peoples.

Entities and leaders reacted with indignation to the MP (provisional measure), approved this Wednesday (24), in which it removes the demarcation of new indigenous lands from the portfolio and transfers it to the Ministry of Justice.

Minister Sônia Guajajara herself recalled in a position published on the portfolio’s website that Lula took the indigenous agenda to the center of his electoral campaign, in 2022. “Now we see this Congress promoting a real attack, in a country that took 523 years to recognize the importance of indigenous peoples and less than five months to try to silence and protect us again,” he said.

This Thursday (25th), entities that fight for indigenous rights, accompanied by social and environmental movements, met in Brasilia to discuss strategies that should be taken in an attempt to reverse the decision of Congress.

The movements also manifested themselves in a note with a critical tone and demanding the Executive.

For Beto Marujo, member of the Coordination of Univaja (Union of Indigenous Peoples of Vale do Javari), if the MP is approved, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples will be an instance of the government “without any effectiveness”.

“Lula, because he was cornered with agendas of interest to the government, gave up important issues of the environment and indigenous rights, as a form of negotiation. It is a step backwards and irresponsible to grant this initiative to Congress”, stated Marujo, who also classified the Legislative as anachronistic.

“It’s only possible [reverter] if Lula enters this joint. He was the president who was elected with the speech of the environmental issue validated in the world. We’ll wait, but at no point did we think it would be easy [defender os direitos indígenas] with or without Lula’s government”, he says.

Another setback, still on Wednesday night, was the urgent request approved by the Chamber to speed up the processing of the time frame project, which limits the demarcation of indigenous lands to occupied territories until the enactment of the 1988 Constitution.

The deputies’ strategy is to anticipate the judgment of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) on the time frame. The Agricultural Parliamentary Front and the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL) are sympathetic to the thesis.

“We know that the center is closely linked to land grabbers and loggers”, says Marujo.

Lawyer Juliana de Paula Batista, from the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), says she considers that the bill is unconstitutional and threatens the climate balance, as well as the rights of indigenous peoples.

“It aims to transform demarcation into an endless obstacle course and open up indigenous lands to highly impactful activities. Land demarcations may be made unfeasible and lands that have already been regularized will be destroyed”, he says.

Kleber Karipuna, executive coordinator of Apib (Articulação dos Povos Indígena do Brasil), promises a series of protests across the country next Tuesday (30), the same day that the merits of the timeframe project will be voted on.

Deputy Célia Xakriabá (PSOL-MG) intends to summon the native peoples to a hearing in the Chamber, also on the 30th.

“If we can’t get into the Chamber, we’re going to hold demonstrations in front of Congress. We’ll be in 300, 400 [pessoas] in Brasilia, but there will be protests from our relatives in all municipalities”, declares Karipuna.

“We are going to close highways, railroads. We estimate that in Boa Vista alone there will be 3,000 indigenous people. We are going to show our strength”, says the Apib coordinator.

The defeats imposed by Congress also provoked a demonstration by Funai (National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples), which said, in a note, that the approval of the MP will weaken it administratively and deepen social conflicts.

“Removing Funai’s competence to identify, delimit, demarcate and register indigenous lands is to fragment an administrative process that dialogues with other essential axes of indigenous policy”, says the agency.

The Cimi (Indigenous Missionary Council) stated, in a note, that it will make accusations at the international and national levels against Congress. He says, however, that he maintains confidence in the STF.

The organization Greenpeace declared that the government is missing the chance to repair historical injustices with the dehydration of the portfolio of Indigenous Peoples and invited the adhesion of a petition against the project of the temporal mark.

“In the same year that we conquered the first indigenous minister in the history of the country, we removed from the hands of the indigenous people the power to decide on their own lands”, stated Danicley Aguiar.

Collaboration João Gabriel