The Supreme Court struck down Bolsonaro‘s measure that would have taken the indigenous peoples of the Amazon forest off their lands. If it had been approved, it would have been impossible for the natives to claim rights to these places, concentrated in the Amazon areas, which multinationals have long had their eyes on.
The law introduced constraints whereby it would not be possible to establish protected reserves on areas where indigenous peoples were not present when the current constitution came into force, nor would they be able to be mapped and recognised as areas on which native peoples had rights
Reserves are the main tool with which these populations manage to block the exploitation of their land by multinationals of various kinds.
According to the Supreme Court, indigenous rights are written into the Constitution and pre-exist from the promulgation of the Constitution itself.
The movements sensitive to the issue, I consider this victory a crucial historical moment for indigenous peoples and a defeat for agribusiness. For if the measure had passed, it would have legalised the theft of millions of hectares of indigenous land, and dozens of peoples would have been devastated.
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