The President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, has never hidden that the great project of his government was to facilitate invasions of indigenous territories. He even publicly declared that in his mandate no indigenous land would be demarcated.
Bill 191/2020 brings together all the intentions disclosed in the electoral campaign to open indigenous lands to economic interests. Especially mining and hydroelectric dams, but also land leasing and other purposes, to favor a small group that only seeks profit.
The urgent processing of PL 191 is incompatible with what the Federal Constitution determines and the justification because of the conflict in Ukraine, shows the true lack of humanity of the government. That instead of protecting vulnerable populations, it puts the lives of hundreds of indigenous people who are already suffering the impacts of the pandemic at risk.
The supposed shortage of fertilizers in the national economy would not be solved by opening indigenous lands to mining. Since the main sources of potash are not located in indigenous lands and its exploitation, in any case, would take years to establish.
The presentation of the project to the National Congress, in February 2020, served as an incentive for miners' invasions of indigenous lands in Roraima. In the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land, at the end of the same month of February 2020, there was an unprecedented invasion of miners since the process of demarcation and disintrusion of the area.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, the invasion of miners into TIRSS intensified. In March 2021, it was estimated that in one year the invasion and illegal mining had doubled, with about four thousand miners in just one illegal mining point, Serra do Atola, in the Raposa ethnoregion.
In the Yanomami Ye'kwana Indigenous Land, the lack of control is absolute and the presence of criminal factions managing mining sites is a reality. In May 2019, the presence of 20 thousand miners was estimated and this number has been growing exponentially. The damage to indigenous peoples resulting from this invasion is immeasurable and underreported. The invasion of miners presents the risk of a new genocide of indigenous peoples in Roraima.
The Federal Constitution of 1988 attributed special relevance to the issue of mining and the exploitation of water resources in indigenous lands, determining a regime for the special processing of laws that will regulate these matters, with the full participation of the affected indigenous peoples and the prior debate in the National Congress.
ILO Convention 169, which has a supra-legal and imperative character in the Brazilian legal system, determines the prior, free and informed consultation of indigenous peoples on all measures that may affect or affect their uses, customs and traditions, striving for the recognition of the social organization and self-determination of peoples.
PL 191/2020 and its urgent processing are unconstitutional. The expectation of regularization of mining activity on indigenous lands, in turn, has produced severe effects and pointed to a new genocide of indigenous peoples. In addition, proposals for laws that would restrict the right of indigenous peoples to traditionally occupied lands, their exclusive possession and usufruct, are flagrantly unconstitutional.
In view of this, the INDIGENOUS COUNCIL OF RORAIMA – CIR, an organization representing 256 communities of the Macuxi, Wapichana, Taurepang, Sapará, Patamona, Ingaricó, Wai Wai, Ye'kwana and Yanomami peoples, hereby publicly expresses its most vehement REPUDIATION OF BILL 191/2020 and expresses its OPPOSITION TO THE URGENT PROCEDURE.
Boa Vista – RR, March 09, 2022.