Government must homologate indigenous lands on Friday

The Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, said this Tuesday (25) that the federal government should announce the ratification of new indigenous lands in the coming days. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is expected to announce the federal recognition of the new areas this Friday (28), during his visit to Camp Terra Livre (ATL). By participating in one of the various debates that drive the 19th edition of Acampamento Terra Livre, a traditional indigenous mobilization event that, this year, has as its theme “The indigenous future is today. Without demarcation there is no democracy ”, the minister informed that she was in the Civil House“ to deal with the acts that we are going to sign here [no ATL], on the 28th, with President Lula”. Consulted by the report, neither the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples nor the Civil House anticipated information on how many and which territories the government intends to homologate. The Civil House, however, confirmed to Agência Brasil that the meeting that Sônia Guajajara participated in this Tuesday served “to discuss issues related to the agenda of claims of indigenous peoples”, with the objective of “aligning actions that will be carried out during the agenda with President Lula, scheduled to take place on Friday”. Also in January, Minister Sonia Guajajara told vehicles from Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC), including Agência Brasil, that 14 demarcation processes for Union areas to be destined for exclusive indigenous use were ready to be homologated. According to the minister, these lands, already identified as traditional territories of the original peoples, are distributed across Acre, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Mato Grosso, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. This Tuesday, the president of the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai), Joenia Wapichana, also cited the conclusion of the technical opinions relating to 14 areas claimed as indigenous lands. “We have 14 processes [de identificação e delimitação territorial] prepared by Funai, which has already forwarded [à Casa Civil] the opinions. Everything is ready. Let’s wait for the president [Lula] to sign [as homologações]”, said Joenia, without elaborating. Last week, on the occasion of Indigenous Peoples’ Day (19), Joenia Wapichana and Minister Sonia Guajajara had already highlighted the urgency of the Executive Branch to recognize the right of communities to demarcate part of the lands that belonged to their ancestors, according to recognition by the Union itself. There was even an expectation that the federal government would take advantage of the date to announce the approval of new territories, which did not happen. “The greatest demand from indigenous peoples is for the Executive Power, which is the demand for demarcations. We cannot escape this demand. We want the unlock [dos processos demarcatórios]; that our territories will once again be demarcated,” Dinamam Tuxá, the executive coordinator of the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Apib), Dinamam Tuxá, told Agência Brasil, remembering that, in the last four years, no new indigenous area was recognized in the country, despite the various ongoing demarcation processes. “The current government has already declared that it wants and that it has the political will [de homologar novas áreas]. For us, however, it is necessary to implement this. And we will demand the implementation of the [ações] policies promised during the campaign [eleitoral] and after Lula was elected,” said Dinamam.

Agência Brasil