After six years of waiting for a decision, indigenous leader Alfredo Bernardo Pereira da Silva has won exemption from the law that makes The National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) his legal guardian. This case was heard in the Federal Court, where it was decided that guardianship should only apply to non-integrated indigenous communities. In this case Silva, a university student, was seen as clearly capable of having legal autonomy. According to Silva, this long legal battle was his way of protesting against FUNAI policy and of paving a way for more indigenous peoples to govern themselves.
