In respect of the Democratic Rule of Law and the protection of the fundamental rights of indigenous peoples.
The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil – APIB, in the midst of the health and humanitarian crisis caused by Covid-19, worsened by the worst virus in our country’s political and democratic history – the Government of Jair Bolsonaro – holds the 17th Camp Terra Livre (ATL) ), the greatest indigenous mobilization that, even in a virtual way, echoes with the national and international society, the serious violations to the fundamental rights of our peoples committed by the invaders of yesterday and today, and which, at the current political moment, are encouraged by government agencies, public agents and the President of the Republic himself.
APIB warns the Brazilian people and the world about the risks that hover over our indigenous peoples, as a death project is underway, which in the name of predatory economic growth and development, undertakes an offensive against us through different means: administrative, legal and legislative, aiming to suppress our rights ensured by the 1988 Federal Constitution, with emphasis on our right to the exclusive possession and enjoyment of our lands, to specific and differentiated policies that concern us, in short, to our right to exist as original peoples, with our own ways of life.
Diante dessa tragédia desenhada, que reedita a invasão colonial do ano de 1500, anunciamos, em primeiro lugar, que não desistiremos de resistir e lutar como já o fizeram os nossos ancestrais e líderes que nos antecederam. E com essa disposição, de inclusive dar a vida pela nossa mãe terra, pelas nossas atuais e futuras gerações, exortamos aos setores solidários da sociedade nacional e internacional a somarem conosco, não apenas para proteger os nossos direitos, mas também para fortalecer a nossa luta geracional a nossa contribuição histórica e atual ao bem viver da humanidade inteira, assim como pelo equilíbrio climático e a restauração de uma sociedade justa, plural, realmente democrática e respeitosa dos direitos humanos e do Estado Democrático de Direito. Nesse sentido desde essa perspectiva manifestamos:
Faced with this produced tragedy, which reissues the colonial invasion of the year 1500, we announce, first of all, that we will not give up on resisting and fighting as our ancestors and leaders who preceded us have already done. And with this willingness to even give our lives for our mother earth, for our current and future generations, we urge the solidarity of national and international society to join us, not only to protect our rights, but also to strengthen our generational struggle, our historical and current contribution to the good life of the whole humanity, as well as to the climatic balance and the restoration of a just, plural, truly democratic and respectful society of human rights and the Democratic Rule of Law. In this sense, from this perspective, we manifest:
To the Legislative Power
- We radically oppose to any initiatives that intend to reverse and suppress our rights guaranteed by Articles 231 and 232 of the Major Law and other articles that extend to our condition as Brazilian citizens, in fact, the first, since we were already here in these lands when Europeans outraged them and wiped out more than millions of our relatives, burying diverse cultures and multiple native languages.
- We repudiate the intention of transferring to the National Congress the responsibility to demarcate our lands, a trick aimed at serving only the interests of the latifundio, the advance of agricultural frontiers and their ecocidal sequels on our territories, due to the indiscriminate use of pesticides, against our multiple forms of traditional production, our cultural and spiritual bond with Mother Nature.
- We flatly reject constitutional amendments, such as PEC 215, and Draft Laws such as 191/2020 that try to make our territories available to mining or legalize illicit activities such as gold mining, now under the control of real criminal organizations, disregarding the constitutional precept that requires the existence of a complementary law, as well as the right to free prior and informed consultation guaranteed by Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), and the principle of exceptionality that preserves our territories from these types of enterprises.
- We do claim from the National Congress measures that reiterate or reaffirm the multi-ethnic and pluricultural character of the Brazilian State recognized by the Federal Constitution and the archiving of any legislative initiatives designed, under the command of private, national or international interests, to usurp our original rights to our lands and to deconstruct our existence of ethnically and culturally differentiated collectivity.
To the Judiciary
- We salute and recognize as historical the latest decisions, mainly from the Supreme Court, which on one hand reaffirms the legality and legitimacy of our own social organization established by our Major Law. On the other hand, it enshrines the right of access to justice for our peoples and communities.
- To the greatest responsible for the protection of constitutional rights, we express our confidence in the subsequent decisions of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) aiming at the full protection of the fundamental rights of our peoples, especially the original, congenital, innate right to the lands that we traditionally occupy.
- We require the STF to pay special attention and perception to sneaky judicial maneuvers that are being processed or will be processed within the scope of the Judiciary, which aim solely and exclusively to usurp our rights as indigenous peoples, as well as trying to delegitimize our indigenous leaders and organizations, historically recognized and defenders of our peoples and territories.
To the Executive
- We demand from the transitional Bolsonaro government to give up its death project, its vile genocidal plan, its undermined or explicit intentions to exterminate us. That if he did not do so during his more than 28 years of parliamentary life, that he read and obey the Federal Constitution, especially the articles that guarantee our rights.
- We demand that the government respect the majority position among our peoples of not allowing the availability of our territories for predatory exploitation resulting from mining, logging, hydroelectric projects and any other infrastructure works, which imply the destruction of our surroundings, our forests, rivers, lakes, sacred places, and biodiversity that we have helped to preserve for millennia.
- We demand an end to the incentive to invasions and illicit acts committed by criminal organizations that in the administration of this government have intensified: land grabbing, mining, illegal logging, illegal fishing, drug trafficking and the enticement of indigenous leaders.
- We repudiate and demand an end to the fratricidal war fueled by this government, which fuels divisionism, conflict and confrontation among indigenous people, by promoting the co-option of some indigenous people to legitimize the opening and availability of our territories to the interests of agribusiness and mining, among other ventures.
- Finally, we demand respect not only for the Federal Constitution, but also for the International Treaties signed by Brazil that protect our rights, the respect for Human Rights, the end of cynicism and denialism in the face of the health crisis that plagues our country and the preservation of the Democratic state.
Brasília – DF, April 19, 2021.
Articulation of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil – APIB