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May 31, 2023

Indigenous Groups in Brazil Protest Against Bill Restricting Protections for Tribal Land
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In Brazil, Indigenous groups took to the streets across the country
Tuesday protesting a proposed law that would limit their ability to
obtain protected status for their ancestral lands by excluding
Indigenous communities that were expelled before October 1988, when
Brazil's current constitution was adopted. Brazil's lower house approved
the legislation after growing pressure from powerful agricultural
groups. In São Paulo, police fired tear gas at demonstrators.

Kerexu Rete Guarani: "We are in a national protest with the original
peoples of this territory. Today, in the name of Brazil, we are fighting
for life. Here are my people, the Guaraní people, fighting, saying no to
the law of death, saying no to the law of destruction, saying no to the
timeframe."

In April, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recognized six
ancestral lands, with the largest two in the Amazon, fulfilling a
campaign promise to protect the rainforest from commercial exploitation.


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