Mara Baixo Foundation supports quilombolas in the fight for legal organization – News of Brazil

Gabriel Penha
Special for the Daily Portal

With support from the state government, assisted by the State Foundation for Policies to Promote Racial Equality (Feppir-Fundação Marasobre), quilombola communities in Amapá are strengthening themselves and organizing themselves legally to reinforce and speed up the receipt of public policies and protection of their territories. Some struggle to receive certification and title from the federal government.

One of the communities fighting to receive this official recognition is Cunani, in the municipality of Calçoene, already certified by the Fundação Cultural Palmares since 2005 and which is now awaiting the titling process.

A big step towards realizing this achievement was taken on November 20th, when Ordinance 249 was published in the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU), through which Incra recognizes the place as a remaining quilombo area, also defining the territorial limits .

The news of the recognition of Cunani as a remaining area was received with joy and enthusiasm by Mayor Reinaldo Barros (PDT). He says that the place holds a rich history and culture and that its people deserve to be valued in the name of this legacy, through public actions and policies.

“Cunani went to the Republic and holds an important chapter in the History of Amapá. This recognition by the Union brings the possibility of obtaining resources to develop that community, as well as leveraging projects and actions”highlights the municipal manager.

According to official data from the Mara Baixo Foundation itself, Amapá has approximately 200 identified communities, including quilombolas, traditional communities and riverside communities. Of these, 40 are certified and four have titles, in the municipalities of Macapá and Santana (Curiaú, Mel da Pedreira, Conceição do Macacoari and São Raimundo do Pirativa).

“The Mara Baixo Foundation has several missions and responsibilities within the communities. One of the main ones is to assist and, if necessary, even intervene, for the due legalization, recognition and defense of these remaining territories”, explains the director-president of the Mara Baixo Foundation, Josilana Santos.

Recurrent hacking attempts

The defense of the territory is also an urgent issue for the residents of Kulumbu do Patuazinho, in the municipality of Oiapoque, which has already made significant progress in this direction. With technical and legal support from the Mara Baixo Foundation, community leaders formalized with the Notary’s Office the delivery of documents legalizing the quilombola association and the second registration of the federation of Afro cults, which has already had a CNPJ since 2007; This process started in July 2023.

Both entities will play a fundamental role in defending the rights of the remaining people living in the region, in addition to strengthening culture and religiosity. Kulumbu do Patuazinho is an urban quilombo that suffers from recurring invasion attempts.

The person responsible for the Land and Land Regularization sector at the Mara Baixo Foundation, Patrícia Costa, followed the legalization process of the entities, an achievement of inestimable value and which was one of the great fight flags of the quilombola leader Benedito Furtado, who died in 2022 and who is now becomes a dream come true for the children and descendants of Pai Bené, patriarch of the Kulumbu do Patuazinho quilombo, who left a historical legacy of struggle in that remaining area of ​​Oiapoque.

“The community made this great progress with the decisive support of the Mara Baixo Foundation, which dialogues, interacts and supports our struggles”says quilombola leader Mauriano Furtado.

Quilombola territory of Cajari

Communities from an area that encompasses the municipalities of Laranjal do Jari, Vitória do Jari and Mazagão, in the extreme south of the State, are also fighting a battle to recognize communities as remnants of a region that, once certified, will be able to integrate the largest quilombola territory in Amapá. There are approximately 20 communities whose process is being processed with the Palmares Cultural Foundation (FCP) and Incra.

These places have already self-recognized themselves as remnants, the first step towards subsequent certification. All documentation, such as minutes of meetings and photographic reports, was sent to Fundação Palmares, the federal body responsible for issuing the Certificate of Self-Definition of Quilombo Remaining Community and, in this way, legally recognizes that community and the territory it occupies.

“Our fight is for our communities to receive this recognition and for the populations living in these regions to stop being ‘invisible’”highlights the region’s community leader, Luiz Rosa, from Tapereira, in the Muriacá region, which already has recognition as a remaining area.

Currently, the largest quilombola territory in Amapá is in the municipality of Mazagão and is made up of the communities of Conceição do Maracá, Mari, Joaquina, Fortaleza and Laranjal do Maracá.

With the certificate, the quilombola community now has rights and legal protections guaranteed by articles 215 and 216 of the Federal Constitution, which refer to the defense and appreciation of Brazilian and Afro-Brazilian cultural heritage and the obligation of public authorities to promote and protect these cultural heritages. In addition to these legal regulations, article 68 of the Transitional Constitutional Provisions Act also guarantees definitive ownership of their territory to the remaining quilombo communities that are occupying their lands, in addition to specific public policies.

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