By Amazon Watch
On June 4, 2013, 144 Munduruku Indians boarded Brazilian Air Force Planes in Altamira en route to Brasilia to attend talks with the government to address a week-long occupation of the contentious Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River. Amazonian Indians from the Munduruku along with those from the Juruna, Kayapo, Xipaya, Kuruaya, Asurini, Parakana, and Arara tribes have bonded together to occupy the main construction site of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam—a dam costing $14 billion and projected to be the third largest dam in the world.
December 6, 2012 was the deadline for removal of illegal invaders in the Xavante Indigenous territory of Marãiwatsede in Mato Grosso state. The invaders remain and the situation continues to be very tense in the region. Xavante’s allies, among them the 84 year old Bishop Pere Casaldàliga, continue to receive death threats.
On Thursday October 18, the President of Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court (STF), Minister Carlos Ayres Britto, overruled the decision to suspend the removal of illegal occupants from theXavante Territory of Marawãitsede. Tserewamriwe, a leader from Marawãitsede, applauded the decision and stated, “Because of our struggle, the [court] decided in our favor. Now we want to recuperate all that was lost: our roots, our trees and animals. We will plant our gardens to nourish our families.”
In September, the Regional Federal Court (TRF1) suspended a May 2012 ruling that mandated the removal of illegal occupants from the Marawãitsede Xavante Indigenous Reserve in Mato Grosso state, the epicenter of Brazil’s booming soy agroindustry. This reversal came just days before the October 1 deadline for beginning the removal of invaders occupying the area.
Article by Brenda Norrell
Photos by Ben Powless
Censored News
On June 20, 2012 Indigenous people will march to deliver the Kari-Oca Declaration to world leaders. Indigenous Peoples are gathered at the Kari-Oca 2 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, as the governments and corporate profiteers attempt to place a price on nature as a commodity at the United Nations Conference on Sustainability Rio+20.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
