On Thursday, Brazil’s Congress overturned a presidential veto that had nullified a key part of a bill aiming to restrict Indigenous land claims, leading to a potential showdown at the Supreme Court. Indigenous groups had supported President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s veto, while the bill was backed by the powerful farm lobby.
Lawmakers from both chambers voted overwhelmingly to annul Lula’s veto of a policy that limited claims to ancestral lands where Indigenous people lived in 1988. The issue is expected to be decided by the Supreme Court, which previously ruled the deadline unconstitutional.
Lula, upon taking office in January, created the first Ministry of Indigenous Peoples and has promised to acknowledge pending land claims. In October, he vetoed the core of the bill, a move that was seen as a significant victory for the country’s 1.6 million Indigenous people who have struggled to defend their land rights against the expansion of Brazil’s agricultural frontier into the Amazon region.
Land conflicts have surged as Brazil’s farm sector has grown into a global powerhouse in recent decades. Indigenous communities across the country claim land that farmers have settled and developed, often for decades.
The heart of the bill, which Lula vetoed, aimed to establish a cut-off date for new reservations on lands where Indigenous people did not live on Oct. 5, 1988, when Brazil’s Constitution was enacted. Brazil’s congressional farm caucus argued that greater legal security would reduce often fatal land conflicts.
Some opposition lawmakers, such as Ciro Nogueira, argued that there is no lack of land for Indigenous people in Brazil, but rather they need support to develop and enjoy the land they already own.
Indigenous leaders and advocates argue that protecting their lands is vital for preserving the Amazon rainforest, which is crucial in combating climate change. Celia Xakriabá, one of only two Indigenous members of Brazil’s Congress, described Thursday’s vote as “a defeat for the climate agenda.”
Outside Congress, groups of protesters from some of Brazil’s 305 tribes, wearing feathered headdresses and painted faces, danced and chanted in support of the presidential veto. Leaders warned that the legislation backed by the farm lobby would lead to more violent conflicts.
Sonia Guajajara, the Indigenous Peoples Minister, expressed hope that Lula’s veto would stand because the deadline threatened claims to ancestral lands that are crucial for the survival of Indigenous culture in Brazil. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle, Isadora Machado and Maria Carolina Marcello; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
