Brasilia (EFE).- Thousands of indigenous people camped in Brasilia for an annual meeting that they have held since 2004 and that this time will urge the Government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to resume the process of delimiting lands of the original peoples.
The so-called Free Land Camp, installed in the gardens of the Esplanade of the Ministries, will remain until next Friday.
The Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) is the promoter of the meeting that this year brings together some 5,000 people.
With the motto “without demarcation there is no democracy”, it alludes to 200 territories claimed by the original peoples that are waiting to be delimited.
This process, which is an obligation of the State according to the 1988 Constitution, was interrupted by the government of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) in 2019.
But the progressive Lula, who took power on January 1, promised to resume it immediately.
indigenous people in brazil
According to official data, native peoples in Brazil occupy 13.7% of the national territory, with 610 indigenous lands, of which 487 are approved and already protected.
Of this total, the vast majority are located in the Brazilian Amazon, with 329 delimited areas.
During his administration, Bolsonaro promoted various policies to encourage the exploitation of minerals in the Amazon, where most of the indigenous lands are located.
Some projects promoted by the far-right government are still being processed in Parliament, although Lula has already asked that the debate on these matters be suspended.
One of those projects proposes giving the force of law to Bolsonaro’s decrees that freed up mining in indigenous territories.
Which will be denounced in three demonstrations that this week will leave Camp Tierra Libre in the direction of the headquarters of Congress.
Bolsonaro’s decrees, repealed by the Lula government, which has also created the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples and has appointed the indigenous Sônia Guajajara as its head.
The Free Land Camp
From the Free Land Camp they will denounce the violence against indigenous peoples, the invasion of your lands by illegal miners.
And the incidence of the climate crisis in the life of the original communities.
Cultural activities and debates on the situation of some thirty ethnic groups represented at the event will also be held.
Likewise, according to the Apib, the Government will be demanded not to cease attention to the Yanomami people, a very serious health situation detected last January.
Attributed to an invasion of illegal miners, expelled from those communities.
As verified by the authorities, hundreds of Yanomanis were seriously malnourished and affected by various diseases.
Due to the mercury that the miners dumped into the Amazon rivers, an environmental disaster that also compromised the diet and health of the indigenous people.