The Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil from 1988 prohibits commercial farming and mining on indigenous reserves without specific congressional approval [11]. Still, Brazil's hard-right president, Jair Bolsonaro – who has described indigenous people as "like animals in zoos" [2] – wants to change that and desprotect indigenous groups to open up the Amazonian terrtories to both public and private investments for the expansion of extractive industries.
In 2019 with the election of Bolsonaro as president, indigenous people from Raposa do Sol in the State of Roraima started to be threatened again. In a conference in Rio de Janeiro, Bolsonaro stated that that land should be exploited. "It's the richest area in the world. You can explore it rationally. On the Indians' side, paying them royalties and integrating them with society," Bolsonaro said in Rio de Janeiro [3,6]
Land conflicts have reportedly happened in the area over the course of many years between indigenous peoples and big farmers and rice producers, who illegally took over parts of the indigenous reserve Raposa Serra do Sol accounting for 1.7 million hectares [4]. The reserve was first established in 1993 by the country's National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) during the presidency of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and officially ratified in 2005 by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (see a related case in the EJAtlas) [2,1] There are approximately 20,000 indigenous people of the ethnic groups Macuxi, Uapixana, Ingaricó, Taurepangue, and Patamonas living in the indigenous land Raposa Serra do Sol.
Bolsonaro's interest is based on the exploitation of Niobium which is a type of rare metal which is produced by the action of magma in the earth and demanded by the nuclear and electronics industries [8]. Most niobium production is in Brazil and Canada (Saint Honoré, Quebec). In fact, the world's largest deposit of Niobium is located in the city of Araxá, Brazil. It has been mined for more than 50 years by the Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM). The company alone supplies Niobium to around 75 per cent of the global market, producing 70,000 tons a year at 40 dollars per kilogram [8]. New frontiers of Niobium production is Raposa Serra do Sol are yet to be expanded under the Bolsonaro's political and economic agenda.
In response of these threats, the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) have started different forms of mobilizations and letters of support for the enforcement of the Brazilian Constitutions and for the respect of the land rights given under Lula's presidency. Anthropologists warn removing that protection would destroy the traditions and languages of the Macuxi and four other related tribes on the reservation [5]
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