BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Bearing images of animals and covered in body paint, hundreds of Indigenous people marched Wednesday in Brazil’s capital, urging Congress to drop a proposed constitutional amendment that has the potential to paralyze and even reverse land allocations. The bill aims to add to the Constitution a legal theory, championed by the agribusiness caucus, that the date the Constitution was promulgated — Oct. 5, 1988 — should be the deadline for Indigenous peoples to have already either physically occupied claimed land or be legally fighting to reoccupy territory.
Lawmakers from the caucus also claim it provides legal certainty for landholders. Indigenous rights groups have argued that establishing a deadline is unfair, as it does not account for expulsions and forced displacements of Indigenous populations, particularly during Brazil’s agriculture frontier expansion in the 20th century. “We are aware of the interests of mining companies, ranchers and oil companies in our lands.
How many lives will be destroyed if this bill passes?” Alessandra Korap, an Indigenous leader of the Munduruku tribe, told The Associated Press. On Sept. 21, 2023, the Supreme Court rejected the deadline concept, which formed part of a lawsuit brought by Santa Catarina state.
In the vote that secured the majority, Justice Luiz Fux argued that areas connected to Indigenous ancestry and traditions are protected by the Constitution, even if not officially recognized. It was amo.