Around 9:00 am, the Military Police (PM) threw gas bombs and water jets at the demonstration of Guarani indigenous people who were completely blocking the Bandeirantes Highway, heading towards São Paulo, at kilometer (km) 20, since 6:00 am this morning. Tuesday (30). As a result, the road was cleared for vehicle traffic. The indigenous people live in Pico do Jaraguá, in São Paulo, and were protesting against the vote on Bill (PL) 490/2007, which intends to establish a time frame for the demarcation of indigenous lands and should be voted on in plenary of the Chamber of Deputies this Tuesday (30). For indigenous leaders, the project represents a great threat to life and that is why they say they are willing to fight and resist approval. Yesterday (29), the Guaranis of São Paulo held demonstrations in Largo São Francisco, in the central region of the city, and a great vigil in the Jaraguá Indigenous Land began at the end of the afternoon. According to them, new acts must be carried out throughout the country for this law not to be approved. Setback For the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib), the bill represents a setback for the rights of indigenous peoples and for the preservation of Brazilian biomes, together with Provisional Measure 1154, which removes the competence for demarcating indigenous lands from the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI). The urgency of voting on the bill was approved on the 24th of this month, which sped up the process. If approved by the House, the text goes to the Senate. “What we saw on the 24th is a shame for national politics. With PL 490 and the Provisional Measure, Congress wants to make the demarcation of indigenous lands unfeasible. This is a big setback for the rights of the native peoples and for the preservation of the environment, since we are the true guardians of the Brazilian biomes”, said, in a note, Dinamam Tuxá, executive coordinator of Apib. Temporal framework The bill that creates the so-called temporal framework establishes that indigenous lands will be those places occupied by traditional peoples up to October 5, 1988, the date of promulgation of the Constitution. The Magna Carta does not provide for this framework as a criterion, since indigenous peoples are original people who were present in the country long before European colonization. The issue is also being analyzed by the Federal Supreme Court (STF), which must decide, on the 7th of June, whether the thesis of the timeframe is valid or not.
Agência Brasil
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