A mega operation by the federal government started this Monday (2) to expel invaders from the Apyterewa Indigenous Land. Located in the town of São Félix do Xingu (Pará state), the area is the home of the Parakanã people and was the most deforested Indigenous land in Brazil during the Bolsonaro (Liberal Party) government, according to satellite images from the Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon (Imazon).
The Apyterewa land lost an area equivalent to Fortaleza, Ceará’s capital city, due to cattle raising, illegal mining and land grabbing. Half of the area was deforested during the Bolsonaro term when, according to Ibama, invasions spread without restriction. This year, Ibama started dismantling illegal encampments and decreased deforestation by 94% in the first semester, informed the Socioenvironmental Institute (ISA, in Portuguese).
Determined by the Supreme Court (STF), the operation was launched amid opposing pressure from Pará politicians. According to Agência Pública, the expulsion should have started on September 28, but was postponed for four days. The region is a Bolsonarist stronghold where local and state politicians support invaders. The area is full of violent conflicts between non-Indigenous people and security forces.
“The entire state apparatus is ready to begin the ‘deintrusion’ process, but political forces are holding back the beginning of the operation. That's a scandal,” posted on a social media platform Maurício Terena on September 27, before the start of the operation. He is the legal coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib, in Portuguese).
The Indigenous area has more invaders than native peoples
The current operation is Brazil’s second-largest operation to expel invaders from Indigenous lands. The first-largest operation of this kind was held at Yanomami land, Roraima state. Hundreds of staff members from Funai, the Federal Police, Abin, National Force and Ibama were deployed to the territory. According to Repórter Brasil, which follows the operation on the ground, a helicopter overflew the region, while troops blocked roads and justice officers delivered eviction notices.
According to the federal government, the “deintrusion” operation (“desistrusão”, in Portuguese), as it is being called, will be held on the Trincheira Bacajá Indigenous land, near the Apyterewa land. Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry estimates that, by now, there are over 3,000 non-Indigenous individuals living illegally in the region, a number higher than 1,400 Indigenous individuals occupying the territory legitimately.
A pamphlet distributed to invaders says they must “immediately” and voluntarily leave the territory taking “all their belongings, including livestock." The deintrusion of the Alto Rio Guamá Indigenous Land, carried out in May this year also in Pará state, took place peacefully.
Host of COP30, Pará has illegal cattle raising activities that supply multinational companies
In Pará state, the host of COP30, illegal cattle raising is part of the production chains of large multinational companies. According to Repórter Brasil, thousands of head of cattle were taken from ranches located in the Apyterewa Indigenous land for Marfrig, the world’s second-largest meat producer. Invaders have also indirectly supplied cattle to JBS.
While the number of invaders increased – and so the number of farms and small towns inside the protected area -, Indigenous people were progressively confined only to their territory. According to the Federal Public Ministry, currently, Indigenous people occupy only 25% of the territory.
“We cannot accept this situation to continue, since Pará will be under the world's gaze as it is the state that will host the 30th UN Conference on Climate Change (COP30),” said the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi), in a statement released this Wednesday (03).
“The impact of this intense and continuous devastation affects not only the environment, but also the community itself, contaminating water streams with mercury and making it difficult for the Parakanã people to grow their food and protect their land due to the imminent risk of conflict,” reads Cimi.
