The Brazilian Congress has this week dealt a hammer blow to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's pledges to protect the environment and respect the rights of Indigenous people.
Members of the lower house, including those backed by the powerful agribusiness lobby, approved a bill that will limit the recognition of new Indigenous reservations. It was even supported by members of Lula’s own Workers' Party (PT) to appease those in their constituencies who want growth and urgent poverty reduction.
The controversial legislation, which still needs to be approved by the Senate as well as Lula, states only land occupied by Indigenous people as of 5 October 1988 – when the Brazilian Constitution was enacted – will be considered for legal protection. There are 730 Indigenous territories that 300 different ethnic groups consider ancestral lands, and many will have either already been evicted by that date, or not yet had their presence formally recognised.
