November 11, 2022

14:11

Mencius Melo – From Amazon Agency

MANAUS – Brazilian indigenous leaders, missionaries and former leaders of the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) met in Luiziânia, in the countryside of Goiás, from Tuesday, 9, until this Thursday, 10, for the 50th anniversary of the entity.

Among the participants were indigenous leaders such as Rosa Tremembé, Rodrigo Pataxó, the chief Hozana Poruborá, Simão Guarani Kaiowá, representing the Aty Guasu – General Assembly of the Guarani and Kaiowá people and the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil (Apib) and the executive secretary of the organization, Antônio Eduardo Oliveira, among others.

For Chief Hozana Poruborá, from the village Aperoi, in Rondônia, remembering the history of her people and revisiting the memories of her childhood says a lot about the relationship with Cimi. “I was born and raised knowing that I was a cabocla, my mother spoke her language hidden, we couldn’t speak it. This right the invaders took away from us. Only after I was 30 years old could I say that I was indigenous, I am very grateful to Cimi for opening these doors for us”, recalled the indigenous woman.

Rodrigo Pataxó, a leader of the Indigenous Land Comexatibá positively evaluated the contribution of Cimi to the struggle of indigenous peoples and the resistance that has strengthened over five decades of intertwining the institution with the indigenous cause in Brazil: “Cimi has been a point of balance between the communities, because it has known how to articulate the peoples without interfering in their ways of life”, he stressed. “The Pataxó stressed the need for the mobilization and involvement of the youth of the villages, because “it is necessary to resist in order to exist”, he observed.

Axes

During Cimi’s 50th anniversary congress four axes were established to guide the entity’s lines of action. Cimi embraces the “Mystic” that missionaries are also militancy; the “Memory”, which was widely discussed at the first table of debates of the event; the “Resistance”, widely debated on the second day of the event; and the “Hope”, which guided the discussions of the third and last day of the meeting. These axes mark the next steps of the entity.

“For 522 years the indigenous people have been showing their resistance and strength, and partnerships have always been fundamental for us”. Affirmed Edinho Macuxi, general coordinator of the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR). The indigenous also emphasized that it is time to celebrate the struggle over half a century of our journey. “Everything we have faced motivates us to be strong and be warriors. We recognize that we have been reduced, but never defeated”, triumphed the Macuxi.

At the end of the works, Wilson Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe, leader of the Caramuru Catarina Paraguaçu Indigenous Land (TI), in the South of Bahia, emphasized: “We have a very big challenge to fight for health and indigenous education, but mainly to defend the demarcation of the territories, and for this we need to exist to resist and continue. Therefore, resistance is you persisting, resisting to guarantee your territory”, he concluded.