Brazilian federal court orders security forces deployed in Apyterewa — Mongabay

A federal court in Brazil on October 23 issued an urgent order to deploy federal security forces to the Apyterewa Indigenous Territory in the state of Pará. The decision was made after new evidence emerged that hundreds of former non-Indigenous residents may have been preparing to reinvade on October 25 — the day of the second round of the presidential election, Mongabay reports.

Threats against the Parakanã people

The court responded to an urgent request from Brazil’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office, which documented threats of armed violence against the Parakanã people living in Apyterewa. According to case materials, on October 12, a Parakanã man received 10 WhatsApp voice messages warning of a planned invasion.

The authors of some of the messages claimed that between 100 and 300 people were preparing for the invasion. They said they were buying tarpaulins and tools to rebuild settlements in the territory. The messages also urged Indigenous residents to leave and mentioned possible shooting.

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Claims of political support

The case materials stated that potential participants in the invasion may have expected political support after the election. Federal prosecutor Márcio de Figueiredo Machado Araújo told Mongabay that such claims reflect the attitude of part of the political opposition toward Indigenous peoples and the demarcation of their lands.

The Apyterewa Indigenous Territory has faced invasions for many years. From January 2019 to September 2022, 30,347 hectares of land were cleared there for illegal logging and cattle ranching. After Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office as president in 2023, federal authorities conducted an operation to remove non-Indigenous invaders from the territory. According to the prosecutor, no new invasions of Apyterewa have occurred since the recent deployment of security forces.