BRASILIA: Fed up with endless encroachment on their ancestral lands, leaders of Brazil’s many indigenous tribes went to the capital Brasilia to speak out this week. But they had trouble finding anyone to listen.
More than 3,000 tribal members massed on the esplanade outside the government complex in Brasilia for the 14th annual “Free lands” event.
But their freedom had limits: when they tried to approach Congress on Tuesday, they were pushed back in clouds of tear gas.
“They’re prejudiced,” said Alvaro Tucano, one of the tribal members taking part in a week-long camp outside the government complex. “I have never seen such a conservative Congress as the one there is today.”
The clash provided surreal scenes of men in traditional headdresses with bows and arrows facing off against black-clad riot police.
Those who were there say the contrast reflected the permanent disconnect between Brazil’s state and the descendants of the country’s original inhabitants.
Nearly 900,000 indigenous tribe members currently live in Brazil, or 0.4 percent of the entire population, divided into 305 ethnic groups.
The statistic that matters most, however, is the 12 percent of Brazil their recognized lands cover, much of it in the Amazon.
Although most of the world sees the region as one of the planet’s greatest natural wonders, the powerful Brazilian agricultural industry values the sparsely populated lands mainly for logging and converting to farmland for soy and cattle.
The government is committed to protecting those lands — in theory. But the fact that many of the borders are not officially demarcated effectively deprives the tribal members of legal rights.
The result is constant pressure on the indigenous peoples and frequent clashes.
At least 137 tribal people were murdered in 2015, according to the Indigenous Missionary Council, run by the Catholic Church. The number of those killed since 2003 reaches above 890.
To their chagrin, the official ultimately responsible for protecting vulnerable indigenous groups in the country’s conservative government, Justice Minister Osmar Serraglio, belongs to Brasilia’s influential pro-agriculture political wing.
He recently outraged indigenous activists by saying that land is not the main issue in dispute.
“Land doesn’t fill anyone’s stomach,” he said. “We’re going to give them good living conditions, but we’re going to stop this talking about land.”
Adriana Ramos of the civil society group Social Environmental Institute says his words betray ignorance of indigenous people’s true value to Brazil as well as their longing to inhabit their own lands.
“The presence of these communities and the traditional management practices contribute to the enrichment of the forest and conservation,” he said.
Alessandra Korap, from the Munduruku ethnic group — which is resisting hydroelectric and other infrastructure developments in its Amazon homeland — says the minister just doesn’t understand the country’s native peoples.
“I would like to tell him that the land does fill our stomach,” he said.
“It’s on the land and for the land that we live,” he added. “It sustains us, gives us fish, pigs, fruits and the artisanal techniques that we use.”
“It won’t be cement that fills our stomach.”
Brazil’s indigenous tribes protest against land theft
Brazil’s indigenous tribes protest against land theft
Guterres warns UN risks ‘imminent financial collapse’
- “Member States must fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse,” Guterres wrote
- Trump has often questioned the UN’s relevance and attacked its priorities
UNITED NATIONS: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Friday warned that the world body is on the brink of financial collapse and could run out of cash by July, as he urged countries to pay their dues.
The UN faces chronic budget problems because some member states do not pay their mandatory contributions in full, while others do not pay on time, forcing it into hiring freezes and cutbacks.
“Either all Member States honor their obligations to pay in full and on time — or Member States must fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse,” Secretary-General Guterres wrote in a letter.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has in recent months reduced its funding to some UN agencies and has rejected or delayed some mandatory contributions.
Trump has often questioned the UN’s relevance and attacked its priorities.
The organization’s top decision-making body, the Security Council, is paralyzed because of tensions between the United States and Russia and China, all three of which are permanent, veto-wielding members.
Trump also launched his “Board of Peace” this month, which critics say is intended to become a rival to the UN.
- ‘Untenable’ -
Although more than 150 member states have paid their dues, the UN ended 2025 with $1.6 billion in unpaid contributions — more than double the amount for 2024.
“The current trajectory is untenable. It leaves the Organization exposed to structural financial risk,” Guterres wrote.
The UN is also facing a related problem: it must reimburse member states for unspent funds, Farhan Haq, one of the Guterres’ spokespeople, said during a press briefing.
The secretary-general also highlighted that problem, writing in the letter: “We are trapped in a Kafkaesque cycle; expected to give back cash that does not exist.”
“The practical reality is stark: unless collections drastically improve, we cannot fully execute the 2026 program budget approved in December,” Guterres’ wrote, adding: “Worse still, based on historical trends, regular budget cash could run out by July.”
Guterres, who will step down at the end of 2026, this month gave his last annual speech setting out his priorities for the year ahead and said the world was riven with “self-defeating geopolitical divides (and) brazen violations of international law.”
He also slammed “wholesale cuts in development and humanitarian aid” — an apparent reference to deep cuts to the budgets of UN agencies made by the United States under the Trump administration’s “America First” policies.
