On Wednesday afternoon (23), the Senate Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Commission (CRA, in Portuguese) approved a bill to legalize the so-called timeframe thesis. Supported by Brazil’s rural caucus, the text of the bill received 13 favorable votes and 3 votes against it. There were no abstentions. Now, the measure (PL 2903/2023) will be discussed by the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Commission (CCJ, in Portuguese). If the members of the collegiate approve it, the text will be discussed in the plenary.
The endorsement of CRA means to endorse Senator Soraya Thronicke’s opinion, who advocated for the full approval of the document forwarded to the Chamber of Deputies. The senator rejected suggestions for the amendment. Besides Thronicke, the following senators voted to approve the bill: Jayme Campos (Union Brazil-Mato Grosso state), Izalci Lucas (Brazilian Social Democracy Party-Federal District), Sergio Moro (Union Brazil-Paraná state), Ivete da Silveira (Brazilian Democratic Movement -Santa Catarina state), Wilder Morais (Liberal Party-Goiás state), Sergio Petecão (Social Democratic Party -Acre state), Margareth Buzetti (Social Democratic Party -Mato Grosso state), Hamilton Mourão (Republicans-Rio Grande do Sul state), Vanderlan Cardoso (Social Democratic Party -Goiás state), Teresa Cristina (Progressive Party-Mayo Grosso do Sul state), Jorge Seif (Liberal Party-Santa Catarina state) and Zequinha Marinho (Podemos-Pará state). Senators Eliziane Gama (Social Democratic Party – Maranhão state), Beto Faro (Workers’ Party – Pará state) and Humberto Costa (Workers’ Party-Pernambuco state) voted against the measure.
The timeframe thesis establishes that Indigenous peoples can only have the right to lands they occupied or at least disputed before the promulgation of Brazil's 1988 Constitution. Progressive parliamentarians, environmentalists and Indigenous entities criticize the text of the bill, which was approved by the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies at the end of May. They are intensifying the pressure on senators to prevent the bill from advancing more in the Senate.
If approved by the CCJ and the plenary of the Senate, the project will only return to the Chamber of Deputies if it changes, something considered unlikely due to the current configuration of political forces in the Senate. The Agricultural Parliamentary Front (FPA, in Portuguese), the group that brings together supporters of big landowners in the National Congress, has 50 of the 81 senators among its members.
