September 20, 2021

11:09

Bruno Pacheco – from Cenarium

MANAUS – A federal regulation that guarantees the legal protection of the Piripkura Indigenous Land (TI), in the cities of Colniza and Rondolândia, in the state of Mato Grosso, was extended by the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) on Friday, 17. The measure was due to expire on Saturday, 18, and was published in the Diário Oficial da União (DOU) – the official journal of the Union – by the president of the entity, Marcelo Augusto Xavier da Silva.

The region is considered extremely vulnerable and suffers with intense pressure from land grabbers and other invaders. Only two known indigenous people live in the territory: Pakyî or Baita and Tamandua, survivors of the Piripkura people, the target of successive massacres in recent decades and whose story is told in a film.

With the publication, the entrance, locomotion and permanence of people who are not Funai staff is restricted in the area of 242,500 hectares and an approximate perimeter of 284 kilometers of the indigenous land. The entity states that the purpose of the extension is to “give continuity to the work of locating, monitoring and territorial and physical protection of the Piripkura indigenous people”.

In the order, the foundation considers the existence of recognition of the indigenous people’s original rights over the lands they traditionally occupy, in the terms of Article 231 of the Federal Constitution. Funai also points out that the recognition must be ensured by the federal agency that assists the indigenous people, as determined by Article 25 of Law No. 6.001, of December 17, 1973.

Request

In August of this year, the Articulation of Indigenous People of Brazil (Apib) even launched a petition to obtain the renewal of four decrees of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) that protect indigenous people and lands in the country. Among them is that of the Piripkura people.

For Apib, the ordinances are provisional ways to establish protection for indigenous people and their territories. Without the renewal of these measures, the isolated indigenous people of the Amazon could be decimated by the invasion and exploitation of their territories, deforestation and pollution of rivers.