President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva approved on Wednesday (6) three indigenous lands in Ceará. He signed the ordinances with the recognition of the areas on the last day of the 1st National Conference of Indigenous Women, which brought together in Brasilia about 5,000 participants from about 100 peoples from all over Brazil.
The homologated lands were as follows: Pitáguay, Lagoa da Encantada and Tremembé de Queimadas. Lula stated that the recognition of ancestral areas will return autonomy to peoples from the regions.
“Now is to create conditions for you to make use that you find best from that land and can continue to create your family,” Lula said. “You need to enjoy that we are in government. I’m sure we are the best chance that indigenous peoples in this country have to conquer their lands,” he added.
With the new acts, it has risen to 16 the total indigenous lands approved since 2023. According to the Planalto Palace, the government exceeded the commitment signed in the transition period that provided 14 approved areas.
The three new indigenous lands are included in the Technical Cooperation Agreement signed in 2023 between the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai) and the Ceará government. The approval is the last phase of the demarcation process of the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai), which began in 2024, and precedes the registration of the areas on behalf of the Union.
By signing the ordinances, Lula praised the resistance of the indigenous peoples in the light of the slowness of demarcation processes. “You, with patience, suffer, need need, get cold, suffer heat, hunger and do not give up. It’s something that gives me a lot of pride: the ability you have to resist in this country,” he said.
Minister Sônia Guajajara classified approval as “another historical and important moment of President Lula’s management”. Funai President Joenia Wapichana argued that indigenous policies continued. “In his government, president, we advanced in the demarcation and recognition of Funai’s role.”
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Inhabited by about 290 indigenous people from Tremembé, the Tremembé de Queimadas Indigenous Land is in the municipality of Acaraú. The indigenous land was declared a permanent possession of the people quoted by a Ordinance of the Ministry of Justice published in the Federal Official Gazette in April 2013.
Extending by the municipalities of Maracanaú, Pacatuba and Maranguape, the Pitaguarda Indigenous Land houses 2,940 indigenous people of the Pitaguay people. Permanent possession had been declared in December 2006.
Inhabited by 340 indigenous Jenipapo-Kanindé, the Enchanted Lagoa Indigenous Land is in the municipality of Aquiraz. Permanent possession had been declared in February 2011.
