'We're going to resist': Brazil's indigenous groups fight to keep their land in face of new law
'We're going to resist': Brazil's indigenous groups fight to keep their land in face of new law
PEC 215, a proposed amendment to Brazil’s constitution, threatens to make worse the already fragile plight of the country’s impoverished indigenous communities
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Ari Karai, cacique of Tekoa Ytu and leader of the occupation at Tekoa Itakupe, part of an extremely poor and
traditional Guaraní indigenous community at Jaraguá, São Paulo. Photograph: Victor Moriyama for the Guardian
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Claire Rigby in Tekoa Pyau
Thursday 23 April 2015 07.36 EDT
Once part of a coffee plantation, the idyllic 72-hectare plot is currently occupied by three families from the Guarani community who moved onto the land in July 2014 after it was recognised as traditional Guarani territory by Funai, the federal agency for Indian affairs.
The group had hoped that would be a first step on the road to its eventual official demarcation as indigenous territory, but they now face eviction after a judge granted a court order to the landowner, Antônio “Tito” Costa, a lawyer and former local politician.
Ari Karai, the 74-year-old chief or cacique of Tekoa Ytu, one of two established Indian villages at the base of the peak, says the group intends to resist. “How can they evict us when this is recognised Indian land?” he asks.
The dispute comes at a crucial time for Brazil’s more than 300 indigenous peoples. Earlier this month, more than a thousand indigenous leaders met in Brasília to protest and organise against PEC 215, a proposed constitutional amendment that would shift the power to demarcate indigenous land from the executive to the legislature – that is, from Funai, the Ministry of Justice and the president, by decree, to Congress.
More:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/23/brazils-indigenous-groups-battle-land-law-change
Indian tribe in São Paulo faces eviction – in pictures:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2015/apr/23/indian-tribe-sao-paulo-faces-eviction-in-pictures