Indigenous Land Rights Under Threat by Lula’s Presidential Victory
Commentary
On Nov. 8, about 500 Brazilian Indians of the Paresi tribe from the mid-western state of Mato Grosso, arrived in Brasília, Brazil’s federal capital. They were there to join the massive protests against the victory of the far-left candidate, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, in last month’s presidential elections.
Irisnaide Silva is the female Indigenous leader of the Macuxi tribe—one of two main indigenous groups in the Amazonian state of Roraima. For once, she says, a Brazilian president has finally bothered to hear her.
The Indigenous leader has met several times with the present incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, to discuss a bill that would authorise mining on indigenous lands. For decades she and her family picked and panned their land, scouring the hills for diamonds and gold. However, when Lula da Silva became the nation’s president, his government made it illegal to mine in her indigenous territory despite protests from her tribe….