On January 29, 2024, Rainforest Rescue published an article about the killing of a Pataxó Indigenous leader that took place on January 21, 2024. The article discusses how “200 large landowners and members of a police militia used WhatsApp to coordinate an armed attack on the Pataxó people.” The article can read in full on Rainforest Rescue’s website.
The following are excerpts from the article:
The attacks
- According to the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs, 200 large landowners allegedly gathered through a call on the social media platform WhatsApp to reclaim a piece of land.
- The attack is said to be in response to a lawsuit filed by the Indigenous population claiming the land. Teia dos Povos [“Network of Peoples”] points out that they have already been granted the land by the courts. The Indigenous authority FUNAI, however, has not yet initiated a demarcation process.
The Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB)’s response
- The Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) condemned the armed aggression in a statement and stressed the importance of ensuring the demarcation of Indigenous territories to resolve the growing land conflicts in Brazil.
“Marco temporal”
- The Indigenous association and the Indigenous Missionary Council CIMI refer to Federal Law 14.701/2023 passed by the Brazilian Congress in December: “It has given even more impetus to large landowners, businessmen and politicians to attack Indigenous communities and try to forcibly evict families from their traditional lands”.
- Brazilian President Lula da Silva vetoed the legislative initiative, known as “Marco temporal”, because it undermines the protection of Indigenous peoples’ territorial rights. But in December, the Brazilian Congress, which is dominated by agribusiness lobbyists, overrode his veto and signed the bill into law.
- The APIB has asked the Federal Supreme Court to overturn the law – which Indigenous people have called a “genocide law” – on the grounds that it is unconstitutional and violates the rights of Indigenous peoples
NOTES:
- In May 2023, GJEP organized a delegation to Brazil of international members of the Campaign to STOP Genetically Engineered Trees. Over our 3 week trip, we spoke to many traditional communities in Espirito Santo, Bahia and elsewhere that are being impacted by the ecological and social devastation caused by industrial-scale plantations of eucalyptus trees. One of the communities fighting back to stop the takeover of their lands for eucalyptus plantations is a Pataxo community in Bahia – the same one described in this tragic article.
- We had planned to visit this community and document them and their struggle, but some heavy rains made the road to their remote community impassable. We hope to get back to their community in 2024 so that we can help them tell their story.
- We had original posted the January 22, 2024 article ““Farmers murder Pataxó indigenous woman” from https://www.servindi.org/. We have replaced it with the updated article from Rainforest Rescue. Please note that the article on servindi.org originally appeared in Portuguese and can be translated into English using Google Translate.
