Brazil’s Supreme Court begins trial defining future indigenous peoples

Brasilia-. Today the Supreme Federal Court (STF) will begin ruling on the so-called Temporary Framework that will determine the lives of indigenous peoples and the future of their land delimitation in Brazil.

At the hearing, considered the most important in the century to Indigenous communities, the court will analyze a land restitution case brought by the Santa Catarina Southern State government against the Xokleng people.

The petition refers to the indigenous lands of Ipirama-Laklono, where the Guarani and Kaengang people live.

Since 2017, the state has invoked the time frame thesis to claim the territory.

Under this interpretation, land tenure is guaranteed only to those who can prove that they were in the area on the date of publication of the Federal Constitution, October 5, 1988. In practice, this limits recognition.

In 2019, the STF gave the status of ‘public reversal’ to the process, meaning that the decision in the case would serve as evidence for federal guidance and all cases of justice regarding the demarcation procedure.

The debate is accompanied by a huge crowd of more than six thousand citizens, from August 22 to 28, camped in the arenas of Citizenship and the Three Powers in central Brasilia, under the banner of the struggle for life.

Peoples before the National Congress condemned the anti-indigenous agenda running in the legislature and the federal government. With banners, posters and dances, they demanded the protection of territories and the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro.

The main objective is Bill 490 of 2007, which also sets the timeframe and goes further, by transferring decision-making power on border demarcations to parliamentarians.

This text was approved by the House Constitution and Justice Committee, but it still had to be voted on in plenary.

For Rafael Modesto, Legal Counsel of the Indigenous Missionary Council, this will be an opportunity for the “Supreme Court to achieve justice and ensure compliance with the Federal Constitution and continued demarcation and compensation for Aboriginal people”.

He pointed out that the ministers of the court have in their hands the opportunity to review the bloody history that indigenous peoples have lived up to today in more than 500 years of Brazil.

The thesis is expected to be rescinded and Modesto believes that mobilization should sensitize the court.

In 2015, the indigenous people through a similar uprising managed to block the time frame set at that time.