At the age of 24, paiter-suruí Txai Suruí made history by speaking, in English, at the opening of COP26, in Glasgow, this Monday (1st). Before the eyes of the world and in the presence of leaders such as the British Boris Johnson, he defended the participation of indigenous peoples in the decisions of the climate summit and recalled the murder of his friend Ari Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau.
But the two minutes on the main stage were too short to describe the threats, setbacks and achievements that the young woman and her family have been accumulating in Rondônia.
Txai is the daughter of Almir Suruí, 47, one of the best known indigenous leaders in the country and a harsh critic of the Jair Bolsonaro government (no party).
Because of these criticisms, he was persecuted. At the end of last year, the president of Funai, Marcelo Xavier, asked the Federal Police to open an inquiry to investigate a “defamation crime” that had been committed by two associations linked to his father.
The reason was criticism of the actions of the federal indigenist agency in the fight against Covid-19. The case, revealed by UOL, ended up being filed in May.
The pandemic, by the way, was especially hard on Txai. She lost both grandmothers to the disease, as well as cousins and uncles.
Almir’s mother, Weitãg Suruí, who died in January (read the obituary), was one of the few living paiter-Suruis born before the contact, which occurred in 1969. In the following years, diseases brought by whites, mainly measles, almost decimated the people, who inhabit the border between Rondônia and Mato Grosso.
Another difficult time for the family was in May. The young woman’s mother, indigenist Ivaneide Cardozo, 62, started to receive calls with death threats due to complaints against invaders of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous Land (TI) Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau. Two of them were at the headquarters of the Kanindé Ethno-environmental Defense Association, founded and led by her.
In the evaluation of an organization dedicated to protecting the lives of leaders in the Amazon, their lives were at serious risk. Unwillingly, Neidinha, as she is better known, was forced to leave Rondônia, an exile that lasted two months.
The invasions of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau TI began in January 2019, amid Bolsonaro’s promises to reduce indigenous lands. In this context of conflict, Ari Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, 33, who acted as guardian of the territory, was murdered with blows to the head on April 18, 2020. The case has not been resolved by the Civil Police so far.
“I considered Ari as if he were my son. That’s why, when she says he was her childhood friend, it’s because I treated him like a son. She grew up among them,” says Neidinha, in a telephone interview from Porto Old (RO). “It was really cool that she remembered him in her speech to the whole world.”
In the midst of all these adversities, Txai Suruí, who is studying the last semester of law, created, at the beginning of the year, the Indigenous Youth Movement of Rondônia. In these few months of existence, his organization already has around 1,700 indigenous young people affiliated.
Another victory for the family was the election of Almir Suruí as chief general of his people, in September. He received 518 votes, almost double that of his main adversary, cousin Henrique Suruí, linked to the exploitation of timber and mining, illegal activities that have divided the paiter-suruís, a population of around 1,400, inhabitants of the Sete de Setembro TI .
With decades of militancy in one of the states with the most cases of rural violence in the country, Neidinha faces her daughter’s exposure with a mixture of pride and apprehension.
“The threat against me extends to her. Before going to the COP, she went with the uru-eu-wau-waus to the invasion area, photographed, to denounce what she was seeing. And I know how much that weighs on a girl. very young. I started military service very young and I know the troubles she will go through, especially in this government,” says the indigenist.
But now is the time for celebration. “When she was six years old, there was a big ceremony, and her father put her on top of a tree trunk, the uncles around her, and Almir showed her to the community: ‘My daughter is going to be a great leader.’ .I never got that vision out of my head.”
“I was so proud to see her there, defending the planet, not just the indigenous peoples. I always say to my children, we fight for humanity. I was very proud to see that my words left a mark on her. I was very moved. “
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