The Apyterewa Indigenous Land, belonging to the Parakanã people, approved in 2007 and one of the most invaded and deforested in the Amazon, has been under tension since Sunday (15th) due to threats of attacks by land grabbers on villages.
According to the MPF (Federal Public Ministry), which monitors the threats, the Federal and Civil Police were called and are trying to implement priority security measures to prevent violence against the Parakanã villages.
The area, located between the municipalities of São Félix do Xingu and Altamira, in Pará, is difficult to access, which is an obstacle for the security forces to work.
This Monday (16) new reports came to the attention of the prosecutors who are following the case, in Redenção, Pará, the city closest to the villages that can be invaded.
According to reports, non-indigenous men mounted on horses surrounded at least one of the villages recently opened by the Parakanã, instilling a state of terror and fear among the indigenous people.
The reports are made through audios in which the indigenous people say they were warned about the organization, by farmers, of teams to attack villages.
The MPF reported that administrative and judicial measures to protect indigenous people are underway and will be urgently intensified.
The removal of the invaders was foreseen as one of the priority conditions of the environmental license for the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, in operation since 2019.
The MPF sues the Brazilian state to force the removal (withdrawal) and asks the Federal Court to fine the government for not complying with judicial decisions.
“Conflicts with farmers and squatters are frequent and in the last two years invaders confronted environmental inspectors and Funai employees who worked in the area several times, even throwing bombs at them”, state the prosecutors.
Because of the invasions, 17 families of the Parakanã people decided to open two villages in the interior of the territory, Ka’a’ete and Tekatawa, to expand the area of indigenous occupation and territorial protection. These are the villages that are close to the invasion area, which leaves the indigenous people in a vulnerable situation.
Indigenous people who live on the banks of the Xingu River, in an area further away from the invasions, are said to be preparing an expedition to the threatened villages to protect them against attacks.
