Brazil’s Indigenous people protest as lawmakers vote to limit their land rights

Brazilian lawmakers approved a proposal that would limit Indigenous land rights and environmental protections.

Background: The law is expected to pass the Senate, limiting the creation of new Indigenous reserves to lands occupied by native people by 1988.
* This date coincides with Brazil’s most recent constitution.

Protests: Indigenous leaders blocked a major highway in response, holding signs stating “we existed before 1988.”
* They clashed with police, who dispersed the crowd with water cannons and tear gas.

Opponents’ viewpoint: Critics argue that many tribes were expelled from their lands during the military dictatorship and had not returned until years after 1988.
* There are 764 Indigenous territories in Brazil, but over 300 are not officially demarcated and remain in legal limbo.

What to watch: The agriculture lobby, which made significant gains in recent elections, supports the bill, and their strong political backing in the Senate could potentially override a presidential veto.

View original article on NPR

This summary was created by an AI system. The use of this summary is subject to our Terms of Service.

Contact us about this post

Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *