Brazil tribal lands under new threat from farmers, miners

Brazil tribal lands under new threat from farmers, miners

Raposa Do Sol, Brazil Photography by Reporting by and
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A decade after the Macuxi people won a bloody legal battle to expel rice planters from their reservation in a remote part of Brazil, their hold over ancestral lands has come under threat again from new right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro.

. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

Left: An indigenous Macuxi cowboy ropes cattle at the community of Maturuca.
Right: An indigenous Macuxi cowboy stands on a rock at the community of Maturuca.

The sprawling 1.7 million hectares (6,600 square miles) of savannah on the border with Venezuela — a reservation called Raposa Serra do Sol — is home to 25,000 native people whose main livelihood is raising cattle.

But the land remains coveted by commercial farmers and mining prospectors, who believe the area is rich in minerals such as gold, diamonds, copper, molybdenum, bauxite and even niobium, a metal used to strengthen steel that Bolsonaro considers "strategic."

. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

Left: Lima poses.
Right: The monument made in honour of the tribes people and their struggle to secure their land rights.

"In the fight for our land rights, 21 of us died," says Chief Aldenir Lima, the leader of the 70 communities on the reservation. "Since then we recovered what we had lost and today, the white farmers' rice plantations have been replaced by our cattle herds."

That could change if Bolsonaro follows through on his promise to review the borders of the reservation — part of his push to repeal a ban on commercial farming and mining on indigenous lands.

. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly
The community of Maturuca.

Bolsonaro's first move after his January inauguration was to put indigenous land decisions under the Ministry of Agriculture, which is controlled by farm sector representatives eager to open up new frontiers to large-scale farming.

The president has already singled out Raposa Serra do Sol.

. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

Left: Indigenous Macuxi harvest corn.
Right: Collected corncobs.

"It is the richest area in the world. There are ways to exploit it rationally. And for the Indians, to give them royalties and integrate them into society," he said in December.

The Macuxi fear the return of illegal gold miners and other poachers on their lands, emboldened by Bolsonaro's rhetoric and his moves to weaken their rights.

. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

Left: Tereza Pereira de Souza poses.
Right: Indigenous Macuxi women walk at the community of Maturuca.

"I want to ask the new president Jair Bolsonaro to respect indigenous people and our constitutional rights," says community leader Tereza Pereira de Souza, her hair crowned with a headdress of yellow feathers.

"It took us 30 years to get our land borders legally recognized and registered."
Tereza Pereira de Souza
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly
Indigenous Macuxi children dance in the ceremony for indigenous leaders at the community of Maturuca.

Brazil's 900,000 indigenous people make up less than 1 percent of the population and live on reservations that account for 13 percent of the territory.

Bolsonaro says they live in abject poverty and hunger and should be assimilated instead of being confined to reservations like "zoo animals."

. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly
Indigenous Macuxi leader Orlando Pereirana da Silva, 73, weighs cattle meat at the community of Uailan.

In Raposa Serra do Sol, Daniel Andrade butchers a cow's carcass and holds up a cut of fresh beef. Nobody goes hungry on the reservation, he counters.

Any attempt to change the reservation's legal status would likely be opposed by the Supreme Court on the grounds that Brazil's 1988 Constitution protects indigenous land rights.

. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

Left: Martinho de Souza stands in the river by the community of Tamandua.
Right: Indigenous Macuxi children play in the Uailan river.

Anthropologists warn removing that protection would destroy the traditions and languages of the Macuxi and four other related tribes on the reservation.

"Nature is our life, our blood and our spirit, because it gives us sustenance," says Martinho de Souza, a Macuxi shaman. "We were born on this land, we live here and we will die here."

. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly
An indigenous Macuxi woman lies in a hammock as a toddler sits on the ground at the community of Maturuca.

Nearby, in the shaman's village of Tamanduá, chickens run about the earth floor and a pot of food cooks over a wood fire. The village is named after a type of anteater, a large mammal in danger of extinction.

Younger tribe members say they would fight for the land, among them Tiago Nunes Pereira, 24, who shows scars on his leg from a gunshot wound he suffered in a clash with farmers when he was just 12 years old.

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Slideshow

Indigenous Macuxi, working as security, control the entrance to the community of Uailan.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

Indigenous Macuxi, working as security, control the entrance to the community of Uailan.

An indigenous Macuxi, working as a security, pours away an alcoholic drink.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

An indigenous Macuxi, working as a security, pours away an alcoholic drink.

The leader of indigenous Macuxi people, Neudino Costa de Souza Macuxi, 32, called Tuchaua by the indigenous, works with the cattle at the community of Maturuca.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

The leader of indigenous Macuxi people, Neudino Costa de Souza Macuxi, 32, called Tuchaua by the indigenous, works with the cattle at the community of Maturuca.

A house stands at the community of Maturuca.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

A house stands at the community of Maturuca.

Sideneia Francisco de Lima, 15, an indigenous Macuxi girl, looks out of her house at the community of Tamandua.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

Sideneia Francisco de Lima, 15, an indigenous Macuxi girl, looks out of her house at the community of Tamandua.

Indigenous Macuxi people play soccer at the community of Maturuca.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

Indigenous Macuxi people play soccer at the community of Maturuca.

Indigenous Macuxi children attend a class at an indigenous cultural centre at the community of Surumu.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

Indigenous Macuxi children attend a class at an indigenous cultural centre at the community of Surumu.

A teacher writes on a board at an indigenous cultural centre at the community of Surumu.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

A teacher writes on a board at an indigenous cultural centre at the community of Surumu.

An indigenous cultural centre which was set on fire in 2009 during an attack by non-indigenous farmers, is seen in ruins at the community of Surumu.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

An indigenous cultural centre which was set on fire in 2009 during an attack by non-indigenous farmers, is seen in ruins at the community of Surumu.

An indigenous Macuxi woman takes a shower at the community of Uailan.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

An indigenous Macuxi woman takes a shower at the community of Uailan.

An indigenous Macuxi child eats a watermelon at the community of Uailan.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

An indigenous Macuxi child eats a watermelon at the community of Uailan.

An indigenous Macuxi man receives medical care by an indigenous health agent at the community of Uailan.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno Kelly

An indigenous Macuxi man receives medical care by an indigenous health agent at the community of Uailan.

Tribal meeting place called a "maloca" at the community of Maturuca.
. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno

Tribal meeting place called a "maloca" at the community of Maturuca.

"Blood was shed here. That hurt a lot. I'm not scared to die. We will never tire of fighting, to the last one of us."
Tiago Nunes Pereira

Writing by Anthony Boadle Editing by Rosalba O'Brien Picture editing by Marika Kochiashvili

. Raposa Do Sol, BRAZIL. Reuters/Bruno
Tribal meeting place called a "maloca".

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