Statue of Portuguese navigator Pedro lvarez Cabral set on fire by indigenous group in Brazil – Observer

A statue of Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvarez Cabral in Rio de Janeiro was set on fire early Wednesday morning. This act was announced by the indigenous collective, Urusu Mirim, in protest against the so-called “time frame”, a law that states that Indigenous peoples can only claim the lands on which they were founded before October 5, 1988., date of promulgation of the Brazilian Constitution.

The group resorted to Twitter report vandalism. At dawn on Wednesday, at 3 am, “another monument to slavery and genocide was set on fire,” the publication says. The fire was aimed at “destroying everything”, which Pedro Alvarez Cabal “symbolizes even today.”in the form of a protest against the “time frame” and the “ongoing genocide of indigenous peoples”. The statue of the Portuguese navigator, the first European to arrive in Brazil, bears the phrase “The time frame is genocide. PL 490 no. “

Bill (PL) 490 includes several measures that have been criticized by indigenous communities as a step backwards. One is the “time frame” that protects some villagers and political circles and which makes it difficult to demarcate the lands of indigenous peoples by denying the rights of these peoples.

Indigenous peoples consider this measure to be unfair because it does not take into account the expulsion and violence they have suffered. In addition, they argue, they ignore the fact that indigenous peoples were protected by the state and for many years had no right to defend themselves in court.

“The passage of this bill will be one of the most significant obstacles to the recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights to their traditional lands and resources since the restoration of democracy in Brazil,” said Anna Livia Arida, deputy director of Human Rights Watch. According to Brazilian law, demarcation defines territories belonging to indigenous peoples who have legal security there. But the NGO warns that many demarcation requests have waited decades for a decision.

This Wednesday, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) will reopen the claim for the return of land ownership filed by the Santa Catarina state government against the demarcation by the Xokleng people. The decision has the status of “general consequences”, that is a decision that can be taken will be binding on future processes…

The statue was unveiled in 1900 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Pedro lvarez Cabral’s arrival in Brazil. Vandalized this Wednesday the team installed tires around the monument and set them on fireleaving most of the statue painted black.

The statue is located in Plaza Largo da Gloria, in Rio de Janeiro, and was opened in 1900. This image, taken in 1935, depicts the event commemorating the arrival of a Portuguese navigator in 1500.

Brazil’s state ministry on Wednesday ruled Bill 490 unconstitutional. any measures that weaken the protection of indigenous lands provided for in Article 231 of the Constitution are unconstitutional., violate fundamental rights and infringe upon the acquired right of indigenous peoples to traditionally occupied lands, ”said prosecutor Paulo de Tarso Oliveira.

The MP’s statement was made at a public hearing in the Senate. In addition to representatives of the deputy, the event was attended by leaders of indigenous peoples and representatives of research organizations and organizations for the protection of social and environmental rights.

PL 490 and other initiatives aimed at suppressing or diminishing the rights of indigenous peoples violate international human rights standards, violating the autonomy of indigenous peoples and the right to exclusive use of their lands, as well as contradicting the principle of prohibition of social regression and the right to freedom, prior and informed consultation ” , – emphasized in the statement of the prosecutor’s office.

On the one hand, the village assembly and agriculture-related organizations defend this thesis. On the other hand, indigenous peoples fear losing their right to areas in the process of demarcation. In this sense, thousands of indigenous people from different regions of Brazil camped in Brasilia, the capital of the country, from Sunday to try to stop the loss of rights.

“My experience in the Amazon has shown that all of these legislative proposals are a consequence of the dynamics of violence and threats generated – by action or inaction – by the Brazilian state itself, and this is absurd violence,” Oliveira warned. The representative of the deputy added that there is a direct link between the political manifestations of representatives of the executive branch and the increase in violence against indigenous peoples.

Brazil submitted 237 requests for the demarcation of indigenous lands for analysis. According to official figures, Brazil is currently home to more than 900,000 indigenous people from 305 different peoples, speaking more than 180 languages.