Ministry of Indigenous Peoples advances to demarcate 13 more territories

Brasilia DF) – The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples will send the processes for the demarcation of another 13 indigenous lands in the country to the Ministry of Justice.

The new movement adds to the six lands approved by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) at the end of April, after four years without any demarcation by the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who fulfilled a promise made during your campaign.

Among the territories of the new wave is Barra Velha do Monte Pascoal, of the Pataxó people of Bahia, who in recent months have suffered from the growing violence in conflicts over land in the southern region of the state, close to Porto Seguro.

At the end of May, an indigenous person was shot in the region of the territory claimed by the local traditional people.

In January, two Pataxó indigenous people were shot dead as they crossed a dirt road towards one of the invaded farms. Two weeks later, a soldier from the Bahia Military Police, who also acted as private security, was arrested on suspicion of having committed the crime.

Minister Sonia Guajajara should travel to Bahia next week to meet Pataxó leaders.

Now, it is up to Flávio Dino’s portfolio (Justice) to sign the declaratory ordinance, an act that makes the limits of the new territory official. Afterwards, the Civil House and the Presidency of the Republic are responsible for homologation, which makes the area official.

There was a meeting between Indigenous Peoples and Justice to agree on the submission of processes. The studies have already been finalized by Funai (National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples), and the challenge stage has even ended, in which the demarcation can be questioned by other agents.

The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples issued a favorable opinion on the demarcations.

The rite already complies with the new bureaucratic process stipulated after the National Congress dehydrated the indigenous portfolio —due to the original structure created in the Lula government, it was itself responsible for the ordinance and for sending it to the next stages.

Now, after a victory for the ruralist caucus against the administrative structure set up by the government for the environmental area, the process no longer goes directly from the Indigenous Peoples to the Civil House — it needs to go through an evaluation and scrutiny by the Justice.

The advancement of demarcations takes proposals that have been waiting for a response from the drawers for some time. The six areas ratified by Lula are on the list of a series of territories that for years went through the entire bureaucratic process, but which had never been signed by the Presidency.

They were: TI Arara do Rio Amônia, in Acre; TI Kariri-Xocó, in Alagoas; TI Rio dos Índios, in Rio Grande do Sul; TI Tremembé da Barra do Mundaú, in Ceará; TI Avá-Canoeiro, in Goiás; and TI Uneiuxi, in Amazonas.

The one that had been ready for approval for the longest time was Avá-Canoeiro, whose declaratory ordinance was published in 1996.

The processes of these territories stopped in the Bolsonaro government. At the beginning of the year, Funai restarted the procedure for sending these cases to the Civil House and needed to review and update the situation in each territory, which ended in March of this year.

From then on, the Civil House began to analyze each of these demarcations. Only six assessments have been concluded so far, and therefore the demarcation of the other territories has not been carried out.

The new territories in the process of being demarcated are home to more than ten different indigenous peoples:

TERRITORIES SENT BY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE TO THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

Barra Velha do Monte Pascoal (BA)

• Municipalities of Itamaraju, Porto Seguro and Prado (Pataxó Indigenous People)

Ypoi Triunfo (MS)

• Municipality of Paranhos (Guarani Nhandeva Indigenous People)

Big Cobra (PA)

• Municipality of Santarém (Indigenous People Tapajó, Jaraqui and Arapium)

Sawré Muybu (PA)

• Municipalities of Itaituba and Trairão (Munduruku Indigenous People)

Sambaqui (PR)

• Municipality of Pontal do Paraná (Guarani Mbyá Indigenous People)

Xakriabá (MG)

• Municipalities of São João das Missões, Itacarambi and Cônego Marinho (Xakriabá, Jaraqui and Arapiu Indigenous People)

Wassu-Cocal (AL)

• Municipalities of Joaquim Gomes, Colônia Leopoldina, Headquarters of Camaragibe and Novo Lino (Indigenous People Wassú Indigenous People)

Tupinambá from Belmonte (BA)

• Municipality of Belmonte (Tupinamba Indigenous People of Belmonte)

Pindoty Araçá-Mirim (SP)

• Municipalities of Cananéia, Iguape and Pariquera-Açu (Guarani Mbya Indigenous People)

Djaiko-aty (SP)

• Municipality of Miracatu (Guarani Nhandeva, Tupi and Tupi Guarani Indigenous Peoples)

Amba Pora (SP)

• Municipality of Miracatu (Guarani-Mbya Indigenous People)

Ka´aguy Mirim (SP)

• Municipality of Miracatu (Guarani-Mbya Indigenous People)

Maró (PA)

• Municipality of Santarém (Borari and Arapium Indigenous Peoples)

The territories are located in Minas Gerais, Bahia, Pará, Alagoas, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo and Paraná.

According to data from ISA (Social and Environmental Institute), Terra Barra Velha is home to at least 4,500 indigenous people. Claiming their territory, the Pataxó have been occupying farms in the region —in a movement they call resumption— and have suffered attacks that have been getting worse since last year.

As Folha showed, in August, shots were fired at the Pataxó Boca da Mata Indigenous School, with about 80 children. At the time, the gunmen’s attacks led the government of Bahia to set up a task force to prevent further conflicts.

The two Pataxó shot dead in January were 17 and 25 years old. Witnesses said men on a motorbike hit the victims from behind.

Still in the region, but not exactly in the territory of Barra Velha, a Pataxó leader and a 14-year-old boy have been shot dead since the end of last year.

The situation led the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples to create a crisis office to deal with the escalation of violence there.

*With information from Folha de S.Paulo

Read more:

Approved project that guarantees the same rights of PCDs for people with Lupus

Deputy reports to allies of União Brasil promise to take over Tourism in seven days

Colombian authorities find Wilson’s footprints in the woods, dog still missing