Brasilia. Thousands of indigenous people marched this Thursday in the Brazilian capital to demand that the government officially recognize the lands on which they have lived for centuries and protect their territories from criminal activities such as illegal mining.
Carrying signs with messages such as “The future is indigenous,” they marched toward Brasilia’s Three Powers Square where Congress, the Supreme Court and the Planalto presidential palace are located.
In addition to calls to recognize their lands, some tribes protested against the project to build a 950-kilometer railway to transport soybeans from the state of Matto Grosso, in the center of the country, to the ports of the Tapajos River, an important tributary of the Amazon. .
Leaders of the Kayapo, Panará and Munduruku tribes said they had not been properly consulted and expressed fears that the railway would increase deforestation.
Thursday’s march was the final act of Camp Tierra Libre, an annual event that held its 20th edition. This year he expressed a critical view of the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Unlike the previous two years, Lula was not invited to visit the camp, set up in the main square of Brasilia.
Lula, who was president between 2003 and 2010, began his third term in January of last year. His government has created 10 indigenous territories, which tribal leaders consider insufficient. According to the NGO Socio-Environmental Institute, there are at least 251 pending claims for land recognition.
Indigenous territories comprise around 13 percent of Brazilian territory. Most are found in the Amazon rainforest.
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– 2024-04-27 03:44:50
