MPF demands ministry completes stage in demarcation of Munduruku

The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) recommended to the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, that he prioritize the analysis of the process regarding the demarcation of the Sawré Muybu Indigenous Land (TI), located in Itaituba (PA). The deadline suggested by the body is 60 days, and the sense of urgency is due to the Munduruku people’s waiting time for the regularization of the territory, which has been almost 20 years.

Among the problems that the Munduruku face are those arising from the presence of a port that the company Cargill maintains in the region. The port, as previously reported to Brazil Agencyhas significantly worsened indigenous people’s access to contaminated food sources in the waters of the Tapajós River and its tributaries and is a factor behind real estate speculation in the region, as the population has grown in a disorderly manner, with the beginning of the activities of company commodities. The MPF has even demanded that the Ministry of Health declare a public health emergency, more specifically due to the presence of mercury in the Tapajós River Basin, related to mining, another adversity that challenges the Munduruku leaders.

The MPF highlights in a note that preliminary studies for the demarcation of the territory began in 2004, upon demand from the Munduruku, and that the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai) then took eight years to compose the technical group responsible for drafting the Detailed Identification and Delimitation Report (RCID) of the territory. “Following the legal rite, the work was published in Official Diary of the Union in April 2016. Once the adversarial phase was opened, the report received seven administrative challenges – all analyzed and considered unfounded”, writes the organization.

As the MPF explains, Decree 1,775/1996 provides the next step for sending the procedure to the Ministry of Justice to issue the ordinance that defines the limits of the area to be demarcated. “In the case of the Sawré Muybu TI, this happened in 2019. In the same year, however, the process was returned to Funai in an unjustified manner. Since then, the demarcation has been completely paralyzed”, he emphasizes.

Funai, continues the MPF, sent the process back to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security in April this year, approving the completion of all elements characterizing traditional occupation in the area. As a result, according to the legislation, the minister in charge of the portfolio would have up to 30 days to issue the decree declaring the limits of indigenous land or return the procedure for supplements, which has not yet happened.

Wanted by Brazil Agency, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security reported that it received 11 processes for issuing the Declaratory Ordinance, which are currently under consideration. “All processes are processed within the scope of the Secretariat for Access to Justice (Saju/MJSP) under the terms of Decree 1,775 of 1996”, he added.