Interview: Isolated indigenous people live at risk in Brazil – 04/16/2023 – Environment

The Brazilian Amazon is the territory of at least 28 indigenous peoples in isolation and recent contact, and there are records of another 86 groups in the country. In the last four years, the human and cultural diversity that isolated indigenous people represent has been put at risk by the State, with the dismantling of Funai (National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples).

For anthropologist Beatriz Matos, director of Territorial Protection and of Isolated Indigenous Peoples and of Recent Contact at the MPI (Ministry of Indigenous Peoples), there is no defense of the lives of these indigenous people —whose rights are provided for in the Constitution and in international conventions— without conditions of work on the bases of protection.

“When [os indígenas] they express a refusal to contact, not necessarily verbally, we understand that it is a choice”, he says. “What makes them vulnerable is the violent occupation of the territory, which is ancestrally theirs. They are there long before Brazil existed.”

This Wednesday (19) is celebrated the Day of Indigenous Peoples.

In office since the end of February, Matos represents the return of the policy for isolated people to a technical parameter. The appointment of the indigenist Leonardo Lenin to the CGiirc (General Coordination of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indigenous Peoples), at Funai, follows these efforts. In the previous administration, the sector came to be the target of investigation for favoring land grabbing.

Matos, who was one of the founders of the OPI (Observatory of Human Rights of Isolated Indigenous Peoples), is part of a group that denounced in the Brazilian courts and abroad how Funai itself —before considered a reference in the area— put indigenous life at risk during the Bolsonaro (PL) administration.

Matos’s husband, indigenist Bruno Pereira, also helped to create the organization. Bruno was brutally murdered in the Javari Valley, in the Amazon, territory with the largest record of people in voluntary isolation in the world, in June 2022, along with British journalist Dom Phillips.

In March, the outcome of the process that deals with the deaths of Bruno and Dom was delayed due to the lack of internet to hold hearings in the penitentiaries where they are accused. In January, there had already been a delay due to the lack of rooms for depositions.

“Each postponement is a pain. The people there [no Javari] remain threatened”, he points out.

How did you start working on the agenda of isolated and recently contacted indigenous people? I have been working in Vale do Javari since 2004. As of 2020, I and other colleagues founded OPI, which monitored public policies in the dismantling of the past government. We founded this organization to force certain actions so that politics would not be completely destroyed.

According to data from OPI and Apib (Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil), there are 114 records of isolates in the country, 28 confirmed and 86 in research… These numbers remain the official ones. In the last government, in addition to dismantling, there was a certain blackout of data. We are in the phase of understanding the status of each isolated record, including those outside protected lands. Funai’s CGiirc is carrying out this survey.

What are the main vulnerabilities of isolates? The physical condition of the protection bases is precarious. There is a very serious problem with human resources, several with temporary employees. This has a direct impact on the vulnerability of the isolated people, who depend heavily on Funai.

Among the Yanomami, there are isolated peoples and some of them have recently been in contact. That situation is the result of scrapping. We took over this department at the MPI concerned about the indigenist body. Without basic conditions, effective action to protect the rights of these peoples is impossible.

There are people, out of ignorance, who associate the Yanomami crisis with passivity. How do you evaluate the lack of knowledge about the culture of the indigenous people and, in particular, the isolated ones? Any attribution, in a humanitarian crisis, to the characteristics of the Yanomami is racist. This condition cannot be attributed to free choice.

When they express a refusal to contact, not necessarily verbally, we understand that it is a choice. Not with a leader and microphone, but it’s a political expression. It needs to be respected as such.

Attributing the condition to the characteristics of the people is perverse. What makes them vulnerable is the violent occupation of the territory, which is ancestrally theirs. They are there long before Brazil existed. We have to fight the invasions so that they can live the way they see fit.

The no-contact policy, despite the Bolsonaro government, is considered cutting edge in the world. What needs to advance in this field? How to hire those who work with isolated individuals? Funai has already made specific contracts and training courses on indigenism. In 2010, when Bruno Pereira joined, they were prepared.

Each indigenous land, each people has its characteristics. There are several universes in the policy of isolated people. We need to improve working conditions for employees, who are often exposed to danger. Funai does not have a career plan and a series of benefits that other civil servants have.

Is hiring indigenous people to protect isolated people an alternative? The training of local staff involves indigenous people interested in working with the agenda and Funai. The MPI enters this context. Those who are going to build these policies or rebuild are indigenous people. MPI will work hard to fulfill what is expected of it.

You mentioned temporary contracts. Are you referring to those created by decision of the STF during the pandemic for a sanitary barrier and that act as a reinforcement in the protection of territories? Exactly. We need permanent and stable cadres. Temporary contracts in the ADPF context [Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental 709, de 2020] end when the pandemic emergency situation ends.

How to deal with the urgent needs of the territories given the current budget? the extraordinary credit [concedido pelo governo por meio de medida provisória, com R$ 146,7 milhões para o Ministério dos Povos Indígenas] it’s a way of giving the “start”. But it’s no use if the structural issue is not resolved.

We are going to plan next year’s budget, and we are working with the Civil House so that this is on the agenda of other ministries, for example, Management and Innovation. Another issue is the funds, the Amazon, the BNDES financing.

The current government and its support base are made up of people who acted and voted against indigenous rights. How is it to be part of the government and deal with this reality? We have an infinitely more favorable situation than in the last government and we accepted this challenge believing in this: participating in public policy, believing that we have space.

Of course, there are contradictory forces within the government itself. It is also a didactic work. Having indigenous people in the most central forums, like a minister, will hear realities that they normally would not hear.

Of course, this will not convince everyone that the agenda is fundamental. On the other hand, in Brazil and in the world, there is an increasingly clear and scientific knowledge that the indigenous agenda is a priority. It is a work of articulation, persuasion and, at times, a clash — a fight for what we believe in.

When will actions for isolated peoples be resumed in ideal form? It’s one of the things that’s being discussed, but, I would say, immediately. In remote monitoring, you do not make contact, but carry out expeditions or use satellites to understand where they are going, if the population has grown or decreased.

There are references to isolates that need to be confirmed so that deaths do not occur without us even knowing. Throughout the 1970s, entire populations were killed by impacts from large projects. There is no news of what people they were.

What was lost with the korubos? They were contacted by an expedition led by Bruno Pereira, at the beginning of the Bolsonaro government, and then everything that happened with indigenous policy and with Bruno happened… Exactly. He was removed from office [na CGiirc, em outubro de 2019] etc. Actions were taken, as a result of the ADPFs, to guarantee the minimum, and Funai employees go there sporadically. As I said, there’s a data blackout.

The assembly of the peoples of Vale do Javari, promoted by Univaja (Union of Indigenous Peoples of Vale do Javari), has just taken place. It had the participation of the korubos of recent contact, so we will have news.

How was it to return to Vale do Javari in February, for the first time since Bruno’s murder? And what is your opinion on the postponements in the murder trial of him and Dom Phillips? It was important to go with Minister Sônia Guajajara [Povos Indígenas] and the president of Funai, Joenia Wapichana, to signal that the State will make efforts to ensure that this does not happen again.

Personally, it was exciting. We hadn’t cried together. Every person who approached was a new cry. It’s when you meet someone who, like you, has lost a loved one. This common love for the same person. It was very strong.

Regarding the hearings, it is regrettable that they did not take place due to lack of internet. It is the minimum structure. They are delays in the resolution. It’s horrible. Gosh, let’s make an audience that has working internet, people.

The Starlink [sistema de internet por satélite da empresa SpaceX] It is a relatively inexpensive investment. So it is. I can’t even understand. Don’t have internet? Do it in person. Why not? Is it a security issue? Escort. I don’t know how to rate it, I speak as a family. Every postponement is a pain. The people there remain threatened.

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Beatriz Matos, 44

He did a master’s, doctorate and postdoctoral degree in social anthropology with studies related to the indigenous peoples of the Javari Valley. She is a professor in the graduate program in anthropology at the Federal University of Pará and a founding member of the OPI (Observatory for the Human Rights of Isolated Indigenous Peoples). Since February, she has been director of the Department of Territorial Protection and Isolated Peoples and Recent Contact at the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}