Joenia Wapichana, Brazil’s only indigenous deputy, uses calm as a strategy in Congress

“I’m going to vote with you, see?”, warns deputy Danilo Forte (União-CE) as he passes by Joenia Wapichana (Rede-RR) in one of the corridors of the Chamber of Deputies, in Brasília.

“It’s great,” she returns, with her thumb in a jewel sign. “I talk to everyone”, she turns after the report by Sheetwhich followed two days of the parliamentary agenda at the end of June.

The only indigenous woman elected in Congress, Joenia is only the second indigenous representation in the history of the Brazilian Parliament. The first was 40 years ago, with the election of Xavante Mário Juruna (1943-2002), elected by the state of Rio de Janeiro in the PDT.

But the minority condition is used as a lever for the parliamentary role. Being the only representative of indigenous peoples, she says, was one of the arguments that guaranteed her a seat throughout her term on the most important commission, the CCJ (Commission on Constitution, Justice and Citizenship), which controls the constitutionality of bills in procedure, and may even veto them.

Minutes before he ran into Forte in the hallway, she had called him and asked him to run to the CCJ meeting. At her request, deputies appeared at the meeting on the 28th to vote for maintaining the agenda of PL 3.074/2019, which is reported by Joenia and provides for the co-officialization of indigenous languages ​​in municipalities with indigenous communities.

Despite the majority support for the PL to remain on the agenda, the proposal received a request for a view from Deputy Gilson Marques (Novo-SC). “How much does it cost to make this possible?”, says Marques.

“This is not something controversial. It already exists in several municipalities”, Joenia says slowly. “They say it’s unconstitutional because they don’t know Article 231 of the Constitution. I’m going to read it to you: ‘the Indians are recognized for their social organization, customs, languages, beliefs and traditions, and the original rights over the lands they traditionally occupy, and the Union demarcate them, protect and ensure respect for all their assets’.”

Tranquility, although it doesn’t seem to correspond to the moment of conflict, is used by her to sew support behind the scenes of meetings.

Between smiles and handshakes (accompanied by resorts to alcohol gel), the deputy twice rises to the table of the CCJ presidency and talks privately to ask her to be the rapporteur of PEC 37/2021, on the insertion of the right to climate security in the Constitution.

“I heard that a person who is not from the environmental area wanted this report, so I went ahead”, he tells Sheet.

At the end of the day, the advisor Lucia de Oliveira enters her office to confirm. “Okay, you are already the rapporteur of the PEC [37/2021]”, warns.

The 36 bills authored or co-authored by the deputy encompass proposals on health, education and emergency aid. The focus turns, however, to environmental and indigenous issues, with proposals that ask for the suspension of validity of the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry) in properties with illegal deforestation, the creation of the National Policy for Territorial and Environmental Management of Indigenous Lands and the prohibition authorization for mining research and mining concessions in indigenous lands.

On July 5, its first bill was approved and became law, after being vetoed by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). He had rejected the entire content of the proposal that changes the nomenclature of April 19, from Dia do Índio – a term associated with prejudiced speeches – to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a synonym for indigenous peoples. Congress overrode the presidential veto in a joint session.

“He’s ridiculous, right? He vetoed the project, which is just a terminology, but which means a lot to us, which is the Day of the Indian, which the white gave to us and was used to diminish us”, said Joenia at a meeting of the Coiab (Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon) at the end of June, asking for support to overturn the veto. “And we are not just a people, we are peoples, we are not just an Indian.”

On the second day that the report followed Joenia’s routine in Brasília, when she received a group from the country’s first popular law firm with indigenous lawyers, Ybi, in her office, she remembers being a pioneer in the area.

She was the first indigenous woman to become a lawyer in Brazil, in 1997, at UFRR (Federal University of Roraima). “But at the time I didn’t know, I studied a lot to finish it soon. The course was five years and I did it in four”, she says.

The deputy’s two children were born while she was in college. But she prefers not to talk about her personal life, as the family lives with threats.

“When I returned to the territory, already trained as a lawyer, they came to look for me to resolve conflicts, invasions. I already had a job in college, but I had to leave to meet the demands of indigenous communities.”

One of them was the defense of the demarcation of the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land. With the case, Joenia became the first indigenous lawyer to give an oral argument to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in 2008.

Joenia, who in 2011 obtained her master’s degree from the University of Arizona (USA), worked for 23 years at the CIR (Indian Council of Roraima). The idea of ​​running for political office, she says, was only hatched in 2016 — two years before, with 8,491 votes, she became the first indigenous woman elected federal deputy in 2018.

The party, Rede Sustentabilidade, was chosen for its principles and freedom of positioning, he says.

Now, at 49, she is seeking reelection, with the support of indigenous and non-indigenous people in the state of Roraima.

“I tried to represent, through the amendments, that I seek improvements in everyone’s lives, not just those who support me”, he says, standing in his office, while offering toast with jam. “It is made from the amendment that I intended”, he says, referring to an amendment intended for Embrapa in Roraima. That’s where the jelly, made from bananas, comes from.

In a notepad on the advisory table in the office, there are reminders: “post more stories”; “emptiness in social networks”. The priority, however, has been another: articulation behind the scenes.

Author of the proposal to create a parliamentary commission that investigates the circumstances behind the murder of indigenist Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips, Joenia negotiated with the presidency of the House to have them vote on her proposal — more comprehensive than the first one, prepared by the PT . On the other hand, she invited a PT deputy, José Ricardo (PT-AM), to preside over the work, becoming vice president.

The day after the reporter’s visit, Joenia would embark for Atalaia do Norte (AM), the city where the crime took place.

“The Wapishana are strategic”, says Joenia to Sheet. “I used to tell the Macuxi women, who are from a warrior people, who go to combat, that we are also warriors, but we talk, we negotiate, we use strategy”, she narrates, tapping her head lightly with her index finger.

“It is not only with bow and arrow that we fight. Here our weapon is the pen”, he concludes.

It is almost 7 pm when the deputy descends to the Chamber plenary to make her speech in repudiation of recent episodes of violence against indigenous Pataxó and Guarani Kaiowá — one of them, Vito Fernandes, was shot dead during a police operation in Amambai (MS) in June 24th.

Minutes earlier, deputy Loester Trutis (PL-MS) asked for the floor and expressed his solidarity with the police. “If you don’t want to be shot, don’t enter someone else’s property,” he says.

“I heard the parliamentarian and I believe that this is not the behavior that we should have as an authority”, Joenia responds in her speech, without changing the tone used in the meetings throughout the day.

“Imagine if the indigenous were to shoot arrows at everyone who enters the indigenous lands? Illegal prospectors, loggers?”, asks the plenary of the Chamber. “We ask the authorities to investigate and punish with rigor what the law determines”, concludes the lawyer.

X-RAY

Joenia Wapishana, 49

It belongs to the Truaru da Cabeceira indigenous community, in the Murupu region, in Boa Vista. He graduated in law at UFRR (Federal University of Roraima) and received a master’s degree at the University of Arizona (USA). In the Chamber of Deputies, she is the leader of her party, Rede Sustentabilidade, and one of the deputy leaders of the opposition.

understand the series

Planeta em Transe is a series of reports and interviews with new actors and experts on climate change in Brazil and around the world. This special coverage also follows the responses to the climate crisis in the 2022 elections and at COP27 (UN conference in November, in Egypt). The project is supported by the Open Society Foundations