Indigenous occupy national foundation headquarters across Brazil
The movement was dubbed “Ocupa FUNAI” by the Articulation of Indigenous People of Brazil (APIB).
Representatives from indigenous peoples and organizations staged a number of protests today (Jul. 13) in several cities across the country, calling for a more solid Indian's National Foundation (FUNAI) and opposing the congressional investigative commission (CPI) targeting the institution. The demonstrators are concerned about changes in indigenous land demarcation policies. The movement was dubbed “Ocupa FUNAI” by the Articulation of Indigenous People of Brazil (APIB).
In Brasília, some 130 indigenous blocked the entry of FUNAI's building and denied public officials access to it. Early in the afternoon, the demonstrators walked through the central area of Brasília and handed a document with their demands to Executive Secretary of Justice José Levi Mello.
The indigenous protesters also occupied the FUNAI headquarters and staged demonstrations in eight other cities, according to information from Ocupa FUNAI.
APIB Coordinator Sônia Guajajara declared that Ocupa FUNAI was convened to express their anger at the possible appointment of a military general as chair of the foundation. After the nomination of General Sebastião Roberto Peternelli was disregarded by the government, the movement kept its ties with an agenda directed at indigenous rights.
“We're still mobilized against the appointment of military men at FUNAI. There's no need to enforce discipline or organization; what FUNAI needs is conditions to operate,” he argued.
Land demarcation
Guajajara further expresses concerns about a budget cut set to target the foundation and a the possible transfer of indigenous health care to the hands of municipal governments, from the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health, linked to the Health Ministry, as it stands today.
Another concern in the document regards the congressional investigative commission (CPI) on FUNAI and the National Institute of Colonization and Land Reform (INCRA). The commission was formed to scrutinize dealings of the foundation in indigenous land demarcation and slave-descendent communities, the quilombos. “The CPI has worked to criminalize the foundation and [other] indigenous-oriented organizations; they plan to undermine the fight of indigenous people,” Sônia Guajajara went on to say.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Indigenous occupy national foundation headquarters across Brazil
