Brazil’s Congress Overturns Lula’s Veto of Limit to Indigenous Land Claims

Brazil’s Congress has overturned President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s veto that had struck down the heart of a bill — backed by the farm lobby — to limit Indigenous land claims, setting the stage for a likely Supreme Court battle.

The case surrounded claims to Indigenous ancestral lands that the bill stipulated needed to be physically occupied on October 5, 1988 — the date Brazil’s constitution was made into law — in order for Indigenous Peoples to be able to claim land allotments, reported The Hill.

“We have watched the entire world at COP28 saying that we need to change the direction the planet is taking, but congress has just withdrawn the rights from the people who point to the future of the planet,” said leftist member of congress Tarcísio Motta, who had voted against the bill, as The New York Times reported.

Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to overturn the veto signed by President Lula, so now the matter is expected to go to the country’s Supreme Court, which already ruled earlier this year that the 1988 deadline was unconstitutional.

Following the announcement of the vote, protestors wearing traditional dress danced and chanted outside congress.

“What happened in Congress is the path to destruction,” Chief of the Kayapo People Raoni Metuktire told Reuters.

Lula promised to recognize pending Indigenous land claims when he took office at the start of this year and created the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. His veto in October was viewed as a major victory for Brazil’s 1.6 million Indigenous citizens. Many of their land rights have been threatened by agricultural interests in the Amazon.

The deadline did not take forced displacements and expulsions of Indigenous Peoples — especially during the country’s military dictatorship of 1964 to 1985 — into account, Indigenous rights groups say, making the deadline unjust, reported The Hill.

“It is a very contradictory situation for the country to have a policy to cut deforestation, and, on the other hand, have a Congress that fights tirelessly to end the richest instrument we have for protecting the Amazon: the Indigenous lands,” said Marcio Astrini, Climate Observatory’s executive-secretary, as The New York Times reported.

Advocates and leaders of Indigenous groups say preserving their ancestral lands protects the Amazon rainforest, an essential ecosystem in the fight against climate change.

“The defeated are those who are not fighting. Congress approved the deadline bill and other crimes against Indigenous peoples,” Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), an Indigenous rights group, said on social media, as reported by The Associated Press. “We will continue to challenge this.”