Brazil’s first Indigenous cabinet minister is urging President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to veto a bill pushed through Congress by the farm lobby that she and Indigenous leaders warn would undermine ancestral land rights and threaten their way of life. Indigenous Affairs Minister Sonia Guajajara told Reuters she is pushing the president not to sign the bill. The largest umbrella organization of Brazil’s Indigenous People (APIB) is campaigning on social media urging Lula to veto the whole bill. “The Supreme Court and the Senate are playing their part. “It also would allow for the expropriation of reservation land if their inhabitants lost their physical and cultural Indigenous traits, which is racist,” Guajajara told Reuters.

Source: Bueno Aires Herald October 09, 2023 23:42 UTC