January 27, 2022

15:01

Marcela Leiros – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira (852 kilometers from Manaus) has become the State Capital of Indigenous Peoples. The Law No. 5.796 was sanctioned by the governor of Amazonas, Wilson Lima, on January 12, 2022, and published in the Official State Diary (DOE) of Amazonas. The city stands out for being home to 23 indigenous ethnic groups and having 90% of its population made up of indigenous people and their descendants.

The Law Project n. 423/2021 is authored by the state lawmaker Tony Medeiros (PSD). “São Gabriel da Cachoeira is the city of the original Brazilians. The city of almost 50 thousand inhabitants, bathed by rivers and surrounded by dense forest that has the indigenous – the first Brazilian – as its main resident. Nine out of ten people in São Gabriel da Cachoeira belong to this ethnic group”, says the document in full.

The indigenous leader in São Gabriel da Cachoeira André Baniwa, 50, stressed to CENARIUM that the recognition of the city as the State Capital of Indigenous Peoples is important because it will enhance the region, considering the population, cultures, potential for cultural wealth, education and tourism.

“I think the Indigenous peoples should discuss, understand this and take advantage of it. This strengthens, in fact, to carry forward the principle of sustainable local development, based on local cultural knowledge. That it be sustainable, preserving, but always seeking quality and the good living of the indigenous peoples of that region”, he said.

The City

Accessible only by boat or plane, São Gabriel da Cachoeira borders Colombia and Venezuela. The municipality, with an estimated population of 47,000 inhabitants by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 2021, is also the main access to Pico da Neblina, the highest point in Brazil, at an altitude of 3,014 meters, and the access to the Yanomami Indigenous Land, which encompasses Amazonas and Roraima.

The municipality was the first in Brazil to co-officiate the indigenous languages Nheengatu, Tukano and Baniwa. About 25,000 indigenous people live in 750 communities in the Upper Rio Negro region, with 11 indigenous lands covering the municipalities of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Santa Izabel do Rio Negro, and Barcelos.

See Bill n. 423/2021: