Brasilia (EFE).- Guarani indigenous people block today, the Bandeirantes road, in Sao Paulo (Brazil). A group of Guarani indigenous people on Tuesday blocked one of the main highways in Sao Paulo, the most populous of Brazil’s states, in protest against a bill being processed in Congress that could complicate the demarcation of the lands of the natives.
The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies approved this Tuesday, by majority, the basic text of a controversial bill that makes it difficult to demarcate indigenous lands in the country.
With 283 votes in favor and 155 against, the bill will now go to the Senate, which, if approved, will send it to the office of President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva for approval or veto.
The controversial project establishes that from now on only those occupied by the ethnic groups until October 5, 1988, when the country’s new Constitution was promulgated, will be recognized as indigenous lands.