CNN —
Brazil’s little location of Congress connected Tuesday nighttime approved a measure that would bounds the designation of ancestral lands successful a ballot met by protests from Indigenous groups.
The bill, known arsenic PL 490/2007, would portion the situation and Indigenous radical ministries of immoderate powers, weakening their oversight of biology protections and the demarcation of Indigenous lands.
The projected legislation, which passed by 283 votes to 155, inactive requires support from the Senate and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Ahead of the vote, Indigenous groups blocked a road conscionable extracurricular the country’s largest metropolis Sao Paulo. Protesters burned tires, fired arrows and threw objects astatine the riot and subject police, who utilized h2o cannons and teardrop state successful return.
Indigenous groups from crossed the state besides planned protests successful the superior Brasilia, wherever Lula da Silva is gathering with South American leaders.
The president could inactive veto the bill, Reuters reports, but Congress could person capable enactment to override the move.
“PL490 has been approved by the Chamber: a superior onslaught connected indigenous peoples and the environment,” Sônia Guajajara, the Indigenous Peoples minister, tweeted precocious connected Tuesday.
“We support warring for life. Still successful the Senate, we volition dialog to debar negotiating our lives successful speech for nett and destruction. We volition not springiness up!.”
Lula da Silva has promised to repair the harm to the Amazon caused during the tenure of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. A surge successful invasions and amerciable extraction of earthy resources successful protected Indigenous lands were reported nether the far-right erstwhile leader’s time successful office.
Last month, Lula da Silva recognized six Indigenous territories, Reuters reports, fulfilling portion of his run committedness to support Indigenous lands from being taken for farming, golden mining and logging successful the Amazon.
But Lula da Silva has had to look a hostile Congress, which approved expediting the bill’s review process last week.
While the measure does not interaction fully recognized Indigenous territories, it would impact territories that are nether claim.
Rights groups pass that the measure would “prevent Indigenous communities from obtaining rubric of their lands if they were not physically contiguous connected them connected October 5, 1988, the time Brazil’s existent Constitution was adopted,” writes Human Rights Watch.
“Indigenous peoples who were expelled from their territory earlier October 1988 and cannot beryllium they were progressive successful an ongoing quality implicit their assertion connected that day would not beryllium capable to unafraid ineligible designation of their lands,” Human Rights Watch wrote in a statement.
“Choosing an arbitrary cutoff day and refusing to admit ancestral lands claimed aft that day is not successful enactment with planetary standards,” it added.
If the measure passes, it could tarnish Lula da Silva’s clime ambitions. “If Lula loses this conflict successful Congress, it volition correspond yet different governmental decision for his medication and show the blimpish unit helium faces,” Bruna Santos, manager of the Wilson Center’s Brazil Institute, told CNN.
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