Brazilian Indigenous Peoples Reject ‘Timeframe Law’ Before Supreme Court
Protest of Indigenous peoples in Brasilia. X/ @ciminational
March 13, 2025 Hour: 1:32 pm
They also demand justice for the death of a Pataxó man who was killed in the state of Bahia.
On Thursday, representatives of the Pataxó and Tupinambá peoples protested in front of the Supreme Court in Brasília to demand justice and protection following the recent killing of a member of the Pataxó ethnic group in the state of Bahia.
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The Indigenous Brazilians also urged Brazilian President Lula da Silva to move forward with the processes of demarcation and formal recognition of the lands they inhabit in southern Bahia.
“We have been suffering threats from mining companies and real estate speculation. The demarcation process has been stalled for five years,” lamented Nadia Akawã Tupinambá, who denounced the ongoing violence carried out by armed groups in their territory.
On Monday, a Pataxó man was killed and another was wounded by gunfire in the Barra Velha do Monte Pascoal reserve in Bahia. The crime occurred while the leaders of their community were in Brasília working on advancing the demarcation of their lands.
At the end of 2022, three young Pataxó were also killed in cases that are still under investigation, according to the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI), an organization linked to the Catholic Church.
“Our situation is one of mourning and sadness because we have already lost several relatives in the struggle for our territory,” said Chief Joel Braz Pataxó, from the Monte Pascoal territory.
The Indigenous leader accused landowners and large estate holders of being behind the violence in the region and reminded that Indigenous peoples have appealed to international organizations to intervene on their behalf. They have also called on the Brazilian government to uphold their constitutional rights.
During Thursday’s protest, representatives of the Pataxó and Tupinambá peoples also demanded that the Supreme Court declare the “Timeframe Law” unconstitutional, as it restricts Indigenous land rights.
Approved by Congress, this law establishes that Indigenous peoples’ rights to their ancestral lands are limited to territories they were effectively occupying on October 5, 1988, the day the Brazilian Constitution was enacted.
At the same time, the Senate is processing a bill that seeks to incorporate the timeframe thesis into the Constitution, with the ultimate goal of shutting down all ongoing legal proceedings against the Timeframe Law.
The Supreme Court has established a conciliation commission between the parties, which is currently in progress. The Brazilian government has told the Pataxó that it cannot move forward with protecting their lands until the legal issue surrounding the “temporal framework” is resolved.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
