Tribes reach agreement with construction companies in Brasília.

Maryna Lacerda_Brasília 247 — Terracap and construction companies achieved, this Tuesday (18), the first victory in the territorial dispute involving the Northwest Sector. Two of the three ethnic groups that live on the lands claimed by the Indians, the Kariri-Xocó and the Tuxã, who number around 50, accepted the proposal to transfer to a new area. The new land is in the Cruls Area of ​​Relevant Ecological Interest, has about 12 hectares and is next to the new neighborhood. Only the Tapuya community, composed of 15 Indians, will remain in the disputed area, where the Sanctuary of the Shamans is located.

But this does not mean the end of the conflicts. The president of the Association of Business Leaders of the Real Estate Market of the Federal District (Ademi), Adalberto Valadão, stated that the works that three construction companies are carrying out in the disputed area will be resumed from Thursday (20). The construction company Brasal has also confirmed that it will continue with the construction of the projections.

The company considers that it is not disobeying the decision of the judge of the 2nd Court of Justice of the Federal District, Clara da Mota Santos, to suspend any work on the site, since the defendants in the process are not the construction companies. They are the National Indian Foundation (Funai), the Institute of Environment and Water Resources of the Federal District (Ibram) and Terracap. On Friday (14), the judge ordered that "the defendants refrain from deforesting, building, destroying, displacing or removing the members of the community residing in the area subject to litigation in this public civil action, in the provisional amount of 50 hectares". This decision is valid until October 27, when a hearing will be held, convened by the judge, at Funai.

The lawyer for the Tapuya community, Ariel Foina, says that if construction resumes, the courts will be called upon again. On Monday afternoon (17), a complaint had already been sent to the Federal Public Ministry that the judge's order was being disobeyed by the construction company João Fortes, which had restarted work that morning.

Distinct interests

The Tapuya, Kariri-Xocó, and Tuxã communities share the four-hectare area recognized as indigenous territory by Terracap. However, their interests are divided: the Tapuya want the recognition of a 50-hectare area as an indigenous reserve, while the Kariri-Xocó and Tuxã have agreed to move to the Cruls Environmental Protection Area, where Terracap will build houses and install electricity, water, and sewage networks.

Foina claims that the agreement signed this Tuesday (18) was based on the same proposal presented three years ago by Terracap. According to him, "the Kariri – Xocó and the Tuxã always wanted houses and infrastructure, only the Tapuyas claim the right to land as an indigenous area". The chief of the Kariri-Xocó, Ivanilce Pires Tanoné, said that she distanced herself from the Tapuyas because she considered that the shaman, Santxiê Tapuya, "abandoned the indigenous people and got closer to the 'students from UnB'". She calls the demonstrators who defend the Indians "troublemakers" and says that they have nothing to do with the two communities that closed the agreement this Tuesday.