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Indigenous people occupy park in RJ in demonstration for retaking territory

About 400 indigenous people from several Brazilian states occupy the Cunhambebe State Park, in Mangaratiba, on the Costa Verde of Rio de Janeiro.

The groups that came from Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Pará and Bahia, in eight buses, were escorted by the Federal Highway Police (PRF) to the environmental preservation area to protest the right to land, decent housing and culture.

In a statement, the State Institute for the Environment (INEA), reported that in the early hours of Thursday (12), the bus with the indigenous people “invaded the headquarters of the Cunhambebe State Park, broke the windows of the guardhouse, broke the gate”. A team from the Park is monitoring the situation and has reported the situation to the National Indian Foundation (Funai).

The park comprises an area of ​​38,000 km², named after a revolutionary leader for the indigenous: Cunhambebe. In a statement, the group stated that the objective of remaining in the reclaimed area is to reacquire what was once indigenous territory, so that they can live, work, care for nature and be recognized as peoples of indigenous rights.

A meeting between the indigenous people and representatives of Funai, park coordinators and the State Institute for the Environment (Inea) was held this Friday afternoon (13). For the Funai representative, coordinator Rosângela Maria Nunes, the first contact with the group was to listen to the more than 32 ethnic groups that occupied the territory.

“We came here to listen to them and meet the demands and needs of what they understand to be a legitimate occupation. There is a search for recognition, a positive visibility for the group in the face of the various difficulties they have been facing, mainly related to the security of the territory”, highlighted the Funai representative.

For Sérgio Ricardo Verde Potiguara, representative of the State Council for Indigenous Rights (Cedind-RJ), the recovery of the region is an important project for the indigenous people.

“They are here to start a process of healing the state of Rio de Janeiro. This territory was a territory of much suffering, of many murders. And this entire region was taken over by real estate speculation, land grabbing and predatory hunting. They made it clear: they will not leave this land because of a court decision. They will only leave the land of Cunhambebe when the enchanted (indigenous people with healing power and a high degree of wisdom) announce the healing process” explained Potiguara.

For the next few days, the authorities must develop public policies to meet the demands of these peoples.

Source: CNN Brasil

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