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In defense of indigenous territories in Brazil: rights, demarcations and land retake

En defensa de los territorios indígenas en Brasil: derechos, demarcaciones y recuperación

Abstract

In recent decades Brazil has been living through a crossroads of civilization; the race for natural resources in the period of advanced neoliberal capitalism has accentuated a violent extractive process, invasion and spoliation of indigenous territories. The objective of this text is to analyze, based on data from the SNCR, INCRA and FUNAI registers, the land tenure situation of indigenous claims and possessions in Brazil from a comparative perspective to that of medium and large rural properties. The methodological outline consisted in categorizing and mapping the land situation of indigenous lands in Brazil. Currently the bio/necropolitical government acts to expand and enlarge the corporate territories of globalized agribusiness by carrying out an attack on indigenous lands, annulling public policies, administrative and legislative devices in defense of the peoples and interdicting the demarcation of the lands. In a country as unequal as Brazil, the power relations that lead to violence are based on the historical concentration of land ownership. The strengthening of the provisions of the 1988 Federal Constitution and of Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization is indispensable for the demarcation of lands traditionally occupied by indigenous peoples, as well as through self-demarcation (land retake), in order for social justice to be achieved.

Keywords:
Indigenous Lands; Conflicts; Demarcation; Rights; Brazil

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