August 16, 2022

14:08

Bruno Pacheco – from Amazon Agency

MANAUS – The activist and indigenous communicator Alice Pataxó denounced, on Monday, 15, that threats and attacks against the Pataxó people have become constant and that villages in the extreme south of Bahia have been targets of farmers for a long time. On social media, the young indigenous leader called for help, justice and safety after indigenous communities, in the municipality of Porto Seguro, reported being victims of gunfire.

“We are experiencing a wave of attacks in the Boca da Mata and Cassiana villages in the Barra Velha indigenous territory (Aldeia Mãe), the armed attacks against the indigenous people had already been happening since June, but the threats and attacks are becoming constant”, began the indigenous woman, in a sequence of publications on Twitter.

The attacks cited by the activist were registered on Monday 15th, in the Pataxó community of Boca da Mata and Cassiana, in the indigenous territory (TI) Barra Velha, in the municipality of Porto Seguro (BA). In the images shared by the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib), it is possible to see a group of indigenous people lying down in the bush trying to protect themselves from gunfire.

According to the Indigenous Federation of the Pataxó and Tupinambá Nations of the Extreme South of Bahia (Finpat), the region has been suffering an escalation of violence since June of this year, when around 180 Pataxó people took back Fazenda Brasília, which is inside an area identified and delimited as indigenous territory with RCID.

On social media, activist Alice Pataxó said that families in the community are being coerced, prevented from leaving their homes and children cannot access school. “Videos where women and children run for cover have been circulating on social media in a plea for help for the people”, she wrote, on social media.

“The violence comes from many sides, from ranchers and gunmen, often militiamen hired to exterminate the community, a violent situation that goes over the Human Rights of all of us,” Alice Pataxó explained, on Twitter. “The villages that are located in the extreme south of Bahia have been targets of farmers for a long time, in a territory of great struggle and conquest of the Pataxó people, in the process of retaking and demarcating their territories”, she continued.

Roundup of Gunmen

The escalation of violence against the Pataxó has been registered for two months. On June 26, according to a note from Finpat, obtained by AMAZON AGENCY, around 60 indigenous people, including children, women and young people, were threatened with death and attacked in an area of territorial occupation, called Fazenda Brasília, by a “gang and criminal organization made up of around 200 ranchers, gunmen and militia members.

In the document, the indigenous entity also accuses that military police officers are among the people who carried out the attacks. The group, according to Finpat, entered the region with approximately 50 pickup trucks and other vehicles, carrying firearms such as pistols, rifles and shotguns. “The individuals, in their majority, were hooded with ninja rings, one of them identified himself as the owner of Fazenda Brasília and another as a Caema/BA police officer”, says an excerpt from the note.

On social networks, Apib denounced that the communities are under the control of gunmen and showed indigenous people fleeing from gunfire on Thursday, 11. According to the organization, for about a month, the families have been prevented from moving around, unable to buy food in the cities or go out to work. “A retaliation against the retakings, organized by the ‘agro-bankitism’,” Apib pointed out.

No return

AMAZON AGENCY contacted the Bahia State Government, through its communication department, requesting a position on the attacks on the Pataxó people and asking what actions are being taken to protect the indigenous peoples in the region. As of the publication of this article, there has been no reply.

Check out the note from the Indigenous Federation of the Pataxó and Tupinambá Nations of the Extreme South of Bahia: