A federal judge issued an emergency order on Oct. 23 to deploy federal security forces to the Apyterewa Indigenous Land in Brazil’s Pará state. The order came after new evidence emerged that hundreds of former non-Indigenous occupants planned to reinvade the territory on Oct. 25, the day of Brazil’s presidential runoff election.
The court order was in response to an urgent request by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), which documented threats of armed violence against the Parakanã Indigenous people who live in Apyterewa. Allegations suggest that the invaders expected political support following the elections.
According to the case file, on Oct. 12, an Indigenous Parakanã man received 10 WhatsApp audio messages that warned of a planned invasion. Some claimed 100 to 300 people were preparing to invade and were buying tarps and tools to rebuild settlements inside. The messages repeatedly warned Indigenous residents to leave, including references to possible gunfire.
“The governor said the people should return,” one audio message said. “The governor who has just won, and if Flávio [Bolsonaro] wins the presidency, then the land will be released to the people again, the land to white people.”
In another audio message, an individual said: “There are a hundred, two hundred, three hundred men who used to own land there. Everyone is saying they’re going back, that the government is supporting them.”
The alleged invasion was scheduled for Oct. 25, coinciding with the election which incumbent Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won in a surprise defeat of his far-right rival who had promised to remove “environmental obstacles” in the Amazon rainforest.
“Allegations of political support for the invasion reflect how the issue of Indigenous peoples is understood by supporters of the political opposition — a faction whose representatives openly oppose the demarcation of Indigenous lands,” Márcio de Figueiredo Machado Araujo, a federal prosecutor at the MPF, told Mongabay over WhatsApp messages. “It has become clear, therefore, that political stances and statements made by leaders are factors that severely compromise the safety of Indigenous peoples.”
The threats come amid growing political pressure on Indigenous territories in Pará. A recent Mongabay investigation uncovered how politicians, agribusiness interests and social media campaigns helped legitimize the invasion of the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Territory in Pará.
Apyterewa Indigenous land has been under attack for years. Between January 2019 and September 2022, 30,347 hectares (74,989 acres) of land were cleared for illegal logging and cattle ranching. It became the most deforested territory in Brazil during Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency from 2019 to 2023. Following Lula’s inauguration in 2023, federal agencies carried out a successful operation to remove non-Indigenous invaders from the land, many of whom had lived there for years.
Machado said no land invasions occurred after security forces were recently deployed in Apyterewa.
Banner image: A village in the Apyterewa Indigenous territory. The region has been subjected to illegal invasions from outsiders, leaving the local Parakanã people confined to just 25% of their land. Image by Marizilda Cruppe/EVE/Greenpeace.
