Escorted by armed men, dozens of Parakanãs, people of recent contact from the Middle Xingu, worked for a month, cutting a path in the forest with machetes. The purpose of the farmers who financed the initiative was to draw a limit and take possession of 392,000 hectares of the Apyterewa indigenous land, approved by the Presidency of the Republic in 2007.
The pretext was a decision by the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Gilmar Mendes, who, in 2020, authorized a “conciliation” between indigenous people and invaders to reduce Apyterewa.
In December, UOL columnist Rubens Valente revealed that a group of chiefs had agreed to reduce the indigenous area by 50.7% of the 773,000 hectares demarcated 15 years ago. The agreement provoked internal contestation, mainly from women.
The picadão would be the “new currency” with non-indigenous people. To convince the Parakanãs, a group of farmers, including Adelson Costa, held a meeting with leaders in the Raio de Sol village, on the banks of the Xingu.
There, the invaders argued that the initiative would benefit the indigenous people and promised to pay a daily rate of R$250, according to reports to the sheet under the condition of anonymity.
About 150 parakanãs worked on the picadão. To reach the place, they traveled by canoe to a riverside house. From there, they were taken by van to the headquarters of Costa’s farm, president of one of the invaders’ associations. There they were organized into working groups.
From the farm, they were transported to the place where the picadão was opened, in a dense forest. In the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic, they worked alongside squatters. Farmers have encouraged the arrival of hundreds of new invaders as a way to pressure the government to reduce indigenous land to accommodate them.
According to the indigenous people, guaxebas (jagunços) provided “security” at the site, carrying long weapons. The food, which was insufficient, did not include meat, forcing the Parakanãs to hunt. At the camp, cachaça was also served. In addition, the daily payment dropped to R$ 70.
Many Parakanãs began to give up. To return, however, there was no more transport, and they had to walk the approximately 70 km on foot to the edge of the Xingu. A trip that took just over two days.
On December 14, two weeks after the revelation of the reduction agreement, Gilmar Mendes ended “attempts at conciliation”. As a result, the opening of the trail was suspended by the farmers, and the rest of the parakanãs also had to walk back.
The conciliation authorized by the STF minister had been severely criticized by indigenous organizations, such as Apib (Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil). The fear is that Apyterewa could set a serious precedent by reducing already demarcated land to accommodate illegal invaders, who feel supported by the Bolsonaro government.
In addition, critics point out the unconstitutionality of a negotiation for the reduction of Apyterewa, since it is about public lands of the Union, of which the indigenous have the right only to usufruct.
In an interview, Mamá Parakanã, one of the chiefs who signed the agreement, says he agreed with the picadão as a way of limiting the invasion. From August 2020 to July 2021, Apyterewa was the most deforested indigenous land in Brazil, with a loss of 68 kmtwoaccording to Inpe (National Institute for Special Research).
“With so much pressure that we had, we feel alone, and the government doesn’t care about the people of Parakanã. We are here without support from Justice, without support from Funai, from the Federal Public Ministry”, said the chief. in an interview in the Xingu village.
“There are many people out there criticizing the Parakanã people, ‘the Parakanã people sold their land.’
In addition to invaders looking for land, the Parakanãs suffer from illegal mining. Contaminated by the extraction of gold, the São Sebastião stream is no longer used by the Paredão village, which now needs to fetch water from a neighboring farm, outside the indigenous area.
Threats and pressure from invaders are recurrent. One of the most serious incidents occurred in 2017, when Adelson Costa, accompanied by armed men, destroyed a village under construction, in an area of interest to the invaders. The Federal Police opened an investigation into the case.
Wanted, Costa declined to give an interview. Via WhatsApp, he only said: “Talk with indigenous leaders. They were the ones who made the sting.”
The report found that a legal opinion from Funai assessed that the picadão is an illegal initiative. The indigenist agency did not respond to requests for clarification requested via the press office.
Deforestation has already destroyed part of the Brazil nut groves in the Parakanãs. In addition, there are regions that were too close to the invaders. Even so, extraction has become one of Apyterewa’s main activities, thanks to a project through which production is sold to the Wickbold company.
This year, 700 boxes will be sold, double the number delivered in 2021. The record collection is a source of pride for the Parakanãs.
“For the community, the standing forest is important to have this harvest”, says Iori Parakanã, manager of chestnut production in the villages.
Women
A recent novelty among the Parakanãs is that the decisions of the chiefs, all men, began to be publicly questioned by the women.
During a leadership meeting in December, it fell to the young Mononara Parakanã, 21, to make the harshest criticisms of the agreement made with the farmers.
“I told them that we, in no way, want to make this agreement with the invaders”, said the young woman, who is in the eighth grade. “I also told them that only the men signed the document: ‘Did you talk to the women, the children, the old people before doing this?'”, she recalls.
“No woman wants these invaders to do this biting. We don’t agree with that, with this decision that the men made. We want the invaders to leave our land.”
Timeline
1983/4. Invasion by loggers and prospectors into the region of the Parakanãs precipitated official contact with whites in the Middle Xingu.
1992. Collor government recognizes the area as Parakanã territory; in reaction, mahogany loggers encourage the invasion of squatters to try to prevent demarcation.
2007. With the name of Apyterewa, the Parakanã indigenous land is approved by President Lula (PT) as one of the conditions for building the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, but it does not remove non-indigenous people.
2016. Belo Monte is inaugurated without complying with Apyterewa’s disintrusion.
2017. Pressured by politicians from Pará, the Michel Temer government (MDB) cancels an operation for deintrusion. Invasion of non-indigenous people accelerates to the point of creating a village, Vila Renascer.
2019. Under the influence of the election of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who has encouraged invasions of indigenous lands, deforestation hits a record since the demarcation.
May 2020. STF Minister Gilmar Mendes authorizes “conciliation” between indigenous people and the municipality of São Félix do Xingu (PA) to negotiate reduction of indigenous land.
Nov.2021. Pressured by farmers and without support from the federal government against invasions, a group of Parakanã chiefs accepts an agreement to reduce 392 thousand hectares (50.7%) of the territory.
Dec.2021. Gilmar Mendes goes back and ends judicial conciliation.
