Voting on the time frame in the STF: Mendonça asks for views and decision is suspended

Indigenous leaders from across the country made a pilgrimage to Brasília this Wednesday (7) to alert the Supreme Court ministers and try to convince them to stop the thesis of the time frame for the demarcation of indigenous lands.

According to the thesis, indigenous peoples could only claim ownership of areas that they were already occupying when the 1988 Constitution was promulgated. Environmentalists claim that the rule would open the door to even greater deforestation of forests that are currently protected by indigenous people.

PL 490 and Marco Temporal threaten the rights of indigenous people, warns institute

An unprecedented study produced by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM) warns of the potential for future destruction of native vegetation in the Legal Amazon - also covering part of the Cerrado and Pantanal - if the bill (490/2007 in the Chamber) is approved of Deputies, forwarded as 2903/2023 in the Federal Senate), which restricts the demarcation of indigenous lands, and the establishment of the time frame by the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

And how should the issue proceed in the STF?

Requests for review at the Supreme Court currently need to follow a procedure lasting a maximum of 90 days, so the topic should be resumed in September, the month in which Minister Rosa Weber retires. She has been against the landmark.

According to the portal UOL, Rosa Weber recalled asked André Mendonça return the process before leaving. For her, the topic is immensely sensitive and “any reflection is opportune”. Mendonça would have agreed.

Campaign against the time frame

Artists, musicians, environmental activists and authorities also took part in demonstrations and actions in repudiation of the time frame for the delimitation of indigenous lands. In São Paulo, Daniela Mercury and Zélia Duncan participated in a large “music” protest in front of the Municipal Theater.

On social media, a collective of artists of Asian descent in Brazil, formed by actress Jaqueline Sato, defended the right of indigenous people to occupy the lands of their ancestors regardless of any date.

“As yellow people, we must take a stand in the anti-racist fight, and this directly includes defending indigenous rights”, says actress Ligia Yamagutti, who is part of the campaign “Marco Temporão No”.

Indigenous demonstrations

“They want to take away our constitutional rights, they want to destroy our lands, invade our territories,” Teixeira Braga, from the Barata/Livramento indigenous land, in the state of Roraima, told Jailda. She is part of hundreds of indigenous people who made the pilgrimage to the federal capital to watch the trial.

The indigenous people consider that the Constitution recognizes their rights without providing for any “time frame” and claim that in many periods they were displaced from their territories, especially during the military dictatorship (1964-1985), which would make it impossible to determine their presence in 1988.

According to the NGO Instituto Socioambiental, almost a third of the more than 700 indigenous reserves already demarcated in Brazil – the majority in the Amazon – could be affected if the landmark is accepted.

Walter de Oliveira, leader of the Macuxi people of the Raposa Serra do Sol reserve, in Roraima, believes that, if the time frame thesis prevails, “the invasions of loggers, miners, land grabbers and farmers” in indigenous lands will increase even further, including in areas already demarcated.

(With AFP)

Read also

Indigenous leaders warn of 'genocide approved' by deputies in Brazil

Several leaders of the Brazilian indigenous struggle, including chief Raoni Metuktire, asked President Lula to “veto” a bill to limit the demarcation of indigenous lands which, in their opinion, represents a “genocide approved” by deputies. On May 31, the Chamber of Deputies approved the PL that limits the demarcation of indigenous lands only occupied by them since 1988, when the current Constitution was promulgated. Now the text must be submitted to the Senate for a vote.

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