Ruralist Brazilian interests tighten their grip on indigenous lands

written by Claudia Fanti
Published on
September 30, 2023

The relief of the indigenous peoples of Brazil after the Supreme Federal Court’s rejection, by 9 votes to 2, of the legal notion of “marco temporal” (which would only recognize their right to lands they already occupied before the Constitution went into effect on October 5, 1988) lasted only a week.

Wednesday delivered a rude wake-up call when the Senate effectively declared war on the Supreme Court, passing a bill codifying the exact same legal notion that the latter had rejected; at the same time, the Supreme Federal Court was passing its own decision to give a consolation prize to the invaders of indigenous lands.

At the conclusion of the so-called “trial of the century,” the judges set new criteria for the land demarcation process, accepting Alexandre de Moraes’ proposal and recognizing the right of “owners in good faith” to compensation in the amount of the full value of the property – and not just the improvements they made to it, as the Constitution provides – unless the indigenous area has already been officially demarcated.

This was exactly what the original peoples feared, knowing that the significant increase in the value of compensation could effectively paralyze the already very long demarcation processes, which can take as much as 25-30 years nowadays.

On the other hand, Judge Dias Toffoli’s proposal to soften the right of exclusive use of the land, guaranteed to the indigenous peoples by the Constitution, in order to allow mining activities and the construction of hydroelectric power plants – which would have had truly deadly effects for indigenous communities – has fortunately been rejected.

More:
https://global.ilmanifesto.it/ruralist-brazilian-interests-tighten-their-grip-on-indigenous-lands/