Urutuca, Brazil – Mukunan Pataxo remembers her aunt starting singing moments before the gunshots rang out.
Maria de Fatima Muniz, 52, was the spiritual leader of the indigenous Pataxo Hanhae tribe in northeastern Brazil. She was a short, serious woman with shoulder-length black hair and was known for leading people in prayer and song with her deep, steady voice.
But on January 21, those voices could not quell the violence that was about to erupt in the rolling green hills outside the Bahia town of Potiragua.
About 50 residents of the village of Maria had gathered there the previous day to set up camp in a bid to reclaim part of their ancestral homeland. She and her brother, Chief Nayrun Munis, and other Pataxo Hanhae activists had planned to plant traditional crops such as beans, cassava, and maize, along with medicinal plants, in the area.
However, their presence caused a backlash among local landowners. A social media message quickly went viral on WhatsApp calling on traders, farmers and landowners to “take back” their parcels.
By the next morning, more than 30 vehicles had arrived, blocking access to the road. The Brazilian government later estimated that there were 200 non-indigenous “rednecks”. Some came armed.
Mukuna said police at the scene guaranteed the safety of Pataxo Han Han and others. Video showed the group singing at the top of a dirt path while officers stood several meters away.
But Munis and his in-law, Mukunan, claimed that law enforcement did nothing, even as local residents raised guns and fired shots.
Rural residents opened fire and attacked the group, injuring at least five people and torching Pataxo Hanhae's vehicle. Chief Muniz was shot in the kidney. And his sister was mortally wounded. She died on the way to the hospital.
“The police were monitoring everything,” Mukunan said. “As if we were of no use to them.”
Maria was the second Pataxo Hanhae leader to be shot dead in southern Bahia in the past three months.
Her death raises questions about the ongoing violence against the Pataxo-Han-Hané community and whether Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be able to follow through on his promise to protect indigenous rights. It raised deep-seated questions.
Indigenous land ownership deadline
Lula himself reacted to the shooting, pledging federal support to “resolve this situation.”
“I want the federal government to be able to help indigenous peoples find a solution so that this problem can be resolved peacefully,” he told Radio Metropole after the attack.
Lula has publicly called for greater protections for Brazil's indigenous peoples, who have a population of about 1.7 million. Last April, four months into his term, he announced the creation of six new federally recognized Indigenous territories. This is the first approval in several years.
“We are going to legalize indigenous lands,” he said in an accompanying speech. “I will not leave any indigenous territory undefended.”
However, the number of land boundaries was lower than expected, falling short of the 14 territories the government had promised to recognize. One of these was the territory of Pataxo in the southern state of Bahia.
Critics say the president has also failed to protect Native Americans from a recent onslaught of lawsuits and bills aimed at weakening their claims to ancestral lands.
One recent effort is the introduction of “marco temporals” or “time markers” to cut off indigenous land ownership rights.
Under this policy, land that was not inhabited by indigenous peoples on October 5, 1988, the effective date of Brazil's latest constitution, would not be recognized as indigenous territory.
Advocacy groups decried the policy as a dangerous rollback of indigenous rights and ignores the legacy of displacement endured by many tribes.
A United Nations human rights expert warned that the bill could “legitimize violence against indigenous peoples,” and Brazil-based advocacy network Climate Observatory called it “an indigenous genocide law.” ” was named.
But Marco Temporal has strong support from Brazil's agricultural lobby, which demands access to the natural resources of indigenous lands.
The lobby is powerful and extends to Brazil's Congress. A majority of members in both chambers identify as members of the Bancada Ruralistas, a voting bloc that defends agricultural interests.
This broad base of support ultimately enabled Congress to pass “Interim Marco” in December, circumventing a Supreme Court ruling that had previously declared the policy unconstitutional and even Lula's own partial veto. Disabled.
Joelson Ferreira, who works with Secretary Muñiz as co-founder of Teia dos Povos, a national coalition of black, indigenous and working-class Brazilians, is partly responsible for the bill's passage. I believe the blame lies with left-wing leaders.
Mr Ferreira accused them of making too many concessions to the agricultural lobby. “The left likes to negotiate with agribusiness to stay in power,” he said.
'Militia' fighting for farmers' rights
For Ferreira, there is a direct connection between Maria's death and the lobby's influence in Congress.
The ranchers who shot Maria to death are believed to be members of Invasion Zero, an armed paramilitary group founded in April last year by Luis Huaquim, a politician and landowner from southern Bahia state.
Invasion Zero boasts ties to other conservative members of Brazil's Congress. A legislative coalition of the same name was formed in October to push for legislation like Marco Temporal and counter indigenous land claims.
“If you mess with these militias, you mess with agribusiness,” Ferreira said.
In response to Al Jazeera's request for comment, Invasion Zero denied responsibility for Maria's death.
Invasion Zero also said in a public statement that it “deeply deplores the conflict” and has “never encouraged acts of violence”, preferring instead to “peacefully resolve land disputes”. .
According to an interview Huaquim gave to Al Jazeera, “There is no connection between this movement and the deaths of indigenous women. There are farmers all over Brazil, and each one is responsible for his own work.”
Two people, a rancher's son and a former police officer, were eventually arrested as suspects in Maria's death. Police confirmed that the bullet that killed Maria was fired from the rancher's son's gun.
The Bahia state gendarmerie told Al Jazeera that in addition to arresting the two suspects, it had opened an investigation into the actions of the police officers.
Invasion Zero considers itself a “local producer movement” aimed at “a determined defense of private property.” But its existence reflects an ongoing conflict between Brazil's indigenous peoples and companies seeking to invade their ancestral lands.
The government considers about 13 percent of Brazil to be indigenous territory, a designation that protects land from outside development. Much of its territory overlaps with the Amazon rainforest, a key ecosystem in the fight against climate change.
But indigenous territory is not the only issue at stake for land reform activists. They point to eye-opening statistics. Brazil's land distribution is among the most unequal in the world, with 1 percent of landowners owning almost half of all land in Brazil. Country.
seize land to force change
The ranch at the center of January's violence was part of territory that the Pataxo Ha Ha Ha'e claim was given to them in a 2012 Supreme Court ruling.
The ruling invalidated some 200 private titles in Bahia and returned ownership of the land, at least in theory, to the Pataxo Han Han-e. Instead, indigenous activists say the process has stalled and left their land in the hands of farmers.
Chief Munis and Chief Muknan told Al Jazeera that camps like the one set up on the ranch in January are a means of reclaiming territory. The Pataxo-Hanhané people were some of the first indigenous peoples to encounter Portuguese settlers and have been displaced for centuries ever since.
“This profession is really a matter of honoring our ancestors,” Mukunan said. “We honor those who fought and shed blood in this territory.”
His stepfather explained that since 1982, their village has successfully reclaimed 54,000 hectares (approximately 133,400 acres) of land, but 100,000 hectares (approximately 247,100 acres) remain in the hands of private ranchers. .
“Over time, our land became less and less,” Secretary Muniz said. He believes the occupation will eventually force the Brazilian government to conduct surveys to prove that the land belongs to indigenous peoples.
Pataxo Hanhan is not the only group deploying this tactic. The Marxist-inspired Landless Workers' Movement (MST), considered the largest social movement in South America, has used the occupation and clearing of unused land to promote social reform.
Supporters of Pataxo Han Han'e, like Ferreira, are long-time members of the group. After Maria's death, MST's family also blocked the highway in protest.
Indigenous activists facing violence
However, efforts by indigenous peoples to reclaim land or protect existing territories have provoked fierce opposition.
Advocacy group Global Witness estimates that at least 1,910 “land and environment defenders”, many of them indigenous peoples, were murdered around the world between 2012 and 2022. In Brazil, 34 “defenders” lost their lives in 2022 alone.
The Pataxo-Han-Han'e people have experienced this wave of violence first-hand. In December, a few weeks before Maria was shot dead, another Pataxo Hanjae leader, Lucas Santos de Oliveira, 31, was shot dead. According to media reports, the attackers were two men on motorcycles.
In addition to reclaiming ancestral territory, Muknan believes land occupation is also a means of protecting the environment. He points out that under the care of Mr. Pataxo Hanhane, forests have regrown in Bahia.
The United Nations also points out that indigenous stewardship generally corresponds to lower deforestation rates. A 2021 multi-country report found that “untouched forests” declined by just 4.9% in indigenous areas, compared to 11.2% in other regions.
Muknan explained that environmental protection could also bring tangible benefits to the Pataxo-Han-Han'e people. “It's about improving quality of life,” he says. “We need forests to hunt and rivers to fish.”
His stepfather told Al Jazeera that he hopes Maria's death will prompt the government to take action to demarcate and protect indigenous lands to avoid further bloodshed.
They remember Maria as a wise person who was very active in the community, organizing cultural exchanges and representing Pataxo Han Han E at political events. She participated in her midwifery and hosted prayer sessions at her home.
“She will always be with us,” Mukunan said. “In our ceremonies, in our songs, in the closing of her eyes, in the smoke from her pipe, in the wind. She is a legend to our people. became.”
“To die like she did, to die fighting for what was hers, is a privilege given to most people.”
