00:14Brazil decides Santero Sur continues its journey through different corners of the South American
00:19giant to show the madness of the different peoples who inhabit the country. This time
00:23our correspondent Andrea Vieira traveled to Victoria Village in Paraiba where Tabahara
00:28people resist for the demarcation of their lands. Brazil is an indigenous land. Doña María José de Conceso
00:40is a 92 year old ceramicist from the Tabajara people on the southern coast of Paraiba. She
00:48spent much of her life moving from place to place because her people were expelled from their land
00:53by landowners. It happened when I was young and we lived on a landowner's property. That
01:04day I told María José, my mother, we have to get out of here. The landowner is going
01:12to clear the land, plant crops and evict us from our straw hut. Then we set off, not knowing
01:21where to go.
01:25This changed 20 years ago when she and other Tabajara people reclaimed the territory which
01:31had been taken over by sugarcane plantations. Today four villages have been established in
01:37the city of Condé, home to 2,000 people. Chief Ednaldo Tabajara left his career as a professional
01:45footballer to lead this reclamation process. According to data from the National Indian
01:51Foundation, it is one of the 256 indigenous lands in Brazil that are in the process of demarcation.
01:59This process was paralyzed during Jair Bolsonaro's administration, during which no land was demarcated.
02:07Under Lula da Silva's third term, however, only 20 were demarcated, a number considered insufficient
02:13by the articulation of indigenous peoples of Brazil.
02:18What does fighting for the climate issue mean? It means demarcating indigenous lands, because
02:26that will give us cleaner air and water. There is no alternative to demarcating indigenous
02:32lands. If Brazil really wants to set an example to the world, there is no better way than to
02:39expand the spaces for indigenous peoples in Quilambulas.
02:44According to the 2022 census, Brazil is home to 391 indigenous peoples and 1.7 million people
02:52belonging to various ethnic groups. Despite being the true owners of this land, it was not until 1982
03:00that the first indigenous person was elected in the country, Federal Deputy Kashyyyk Jiruna.
03:08In 2026, a record 2009-1 indigenous candidates are contesting the elections. They are calling on the entire
03:16political class to support them.
03:24I would say that Brazil is a broad country with many different peoples, and we are part of that.
03:35We believe in an inclusive policy that respects indigenous peoples, Quilambulas and fishermen,
03:44enabling them to participate alongside the government in Brazilian society.
03:49But we want to occupy our own space so that they can recognize our territory and see us as indigenous
04:03people on the southern coast. We also want to occupy our spaces, which often speak but do not comply.
04:15In the face of a congress advancing measures to open up mining and hinder the recognition of
04:21indigenous rights, the demarcation of lands is vital for the protection of these peoples,
04:27the environment and humanity itself.
04:32This is why we say, never again a Brazil without us, because a time has passed and is being
04:38deconstructed. Now we are building on this process. That is why when she was a candidate for federal
04:46deputy and won in Sao Paulo, Minister Sonia Guadjajara always said that we have to bring our Brazil to
04:53the spaces of power and put coca leaves there. That is what we are trying to do from now on.
05:00More than five centuries have passed since the Portuguese invasion. The state continues to be
05:07predominantly white, but there is a growing resistance that is slowly gaining ground.
05:13Indigenous peoples in Brazil no longer accept being represented by others.
05:19They want to build their own country. The future is ancestral. Andre Vieira and Sebastian Soto,
05:27TELESER Brazil
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05:28TELESER Brazil
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