Thousands of indigenous people in Brasilia press for their ancestral right to land

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Thousands of indigenous people gathered this Wednesday (25) in front of the Brazilian Supreme Court, waiting for the beginning of a trial to decide on the “ancestral” right to land defended by the native peoples.

The demonstration was called, given the possibility that the court would begin the hearing this Wednesday. Still, the issue on the court’s agenda was postponed and will probably be discussed starting this Thursday, although that has not yet been confirmed.

In any case, indigenous people coming to Brasilia from all over the country, whose number was estimated at 6,000 by the organizers of the movement themselves, remained in vigil in front of the Supreme Court and demanded confirmation of their “ancestral” rights over the land.

What is in question is a legal thesis known as the “time frame”. Under this thesis, indigenous peoples can only claim exclusively as their own, the lands they prove they occupied on October 5, 1988, when the current Brazilian Constitution was promulgated.

However, the indigenous movements maintain that this thesis puts an end to “ancestral rights” and instead favors the legalization of areas illegally occupied by landowners before that date.

The matter reached the Supreme Court through a lawsuit filed by the National Indian Foundation (Funai) against a decision in 2013 by an appellate court that recognized a government environmental agency of the southern state of Santa Catarina as the owner of some lands.

These areas were occupied for centuries by the Xokleng, Guarani, and Kaingang ethnic groups, who were forcibly evicted by settlers in the middle of the last century, and ended up in the hands of the Foundation for the Technological Protection of Santa Catarina, favored by the ruling that is now under discussion in the Supreme Court.

This ruling, which accepted the “time frame” thesis, held that in October 1988 these lands were in the possession of this official body of the State of Santa Catarina and ignored the fact that, as of 1996, the indigenous people had retaken some of their settlements.

If the suit is successful, the indigenous peoples can claim their constitutional right to exclusive use of the lands whose boundaries are fixed by a legal process called “demarcation”.

Simulaneously, a bill is pending in the Chamber of Deputies that would confirm the “time frame” thesis and limit the “demarcation” rights of indigenous peoples.