Sydney Possuelo: “Indigenous peoples have never been as threatened as today”

“I realized how much damage we were doing to them,” says Possuelo, who came to this conclusion after an expedition to contact the Arara group in the Xingu valley.

“I managed to organize a front, where I had everything to avoid some kind of tragedy. When I organized the expedition, I said to myself: ‘I will not allow the death of a single Indian.’ However, two or three indigenous people died. They fell ill with the flu. I had doctors, a helicopter and medicine. But they, when they are sick, go to the forest in search of their natural medicines. We had to look for them, pick them up on a stretcher, carry them in our arms. We had to rescue them from the jungle so there would be no more deaths. It was a terrible disappointment, because no one was supposed to die”, recalls this indigenista.

Since then, Possuelo has been in favor of keeping groups that have never established a relationship with whites isolated. He assures that, at present, the native peoples of Brazil are more threatened than ever because of the policies implemented by the government of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has not demarcated a single indigenous land since he came to power.

Bolsonaro has been denounced by various groups before the International Criminal Court for genocide and “ecocide”, that is, for attacking the Amazon ecosystem. His statements against the indigenous are numerous and well known. On more than one occasion he has stated that the Indians have too much land and that “keeping Indians on demarcated reservations is treating them like animals in a zoo.”

“This mentality against the indigenous is consolidated in the head of the Government. It is a political action designed, organized and established within the Government. And the result of all this is the death of Bruno, the death of Dom, the shootings against the indigenous people, when the boats pass in front of their communities. This is becoming more and more common”, points out Possuelo.

Possuelo was commissioned to demarcate the indigenous lands of the Javarí Valley, where Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were assassinated.

It refers to the recent murder of the British journalist Dom Phillips and the indigenista Bruno Pereira in the Javarí Valley. “It is a loss that goes beyond the borders of this region. It is a national loss for indigenous peoples in general. He shows that all the people involved in the protection of the environment, of indigenous lands and of isolated peoples are subject to this violence, which today is imposed from north to south and from east to west, within indigenous communities”, he highlights.

Possuelo knows the Javarí Valley perfectly because he was responsible for demarcating these indigenous lands. Twenty years ago, he led an expedition that lasted 110 days. He had a team of 35 people, mostly indigenous.

“I verified that there were more and more people coming down from the headwaters of the rivers, crossing the Javarí Valley. There were some groups that came in canoes or on makeshift rafts. Several indigenous groups live in the region through which they entered, such as the Flecheiros. I was wondering if these people had met them. Was there a fight, maybe deaths? Are the Indians okay? And this can only be verified through an expedition. So we go up the rivers. We did a long section in large boats, another by rowing, a long section on foot… in total, 3,200 kilometers adding up everything within the Javarí Valley. And we found out that the village was intact. But there were other faster invasions. Many invaders enter and leave in search of wood, to hunt and fish”, explains this explorer.

Since then, the attacks on this indigenous reserve have worsened significantly. Illegal logging, hunting and fishing have intensified. In addition, mining is wreaking havoc in this territory. To all this, add the drug routes of drug traffickers, who take advantage of the proximity to the triple border between Brazil, Colombia and Peru.

By an irony of luck, the confessed murderer of Bruno and Dom, Amarildo da Costa, was with Sydney Possuelo on that historic 2002 expedition in the Javarí Valley. He discovered it by chance. “There were three reporters with us, including the American Scott Wallace, who wrote a book. He was the one who called me and said, “Sydney, this guy was on the expedition.” I replied, “Really?”, because he didn’t remember me. Later I reviewed the video tapes I recorded during the expedition and discovered that he was there with us. Suddenly, you realize that a person can have a vision of the world, but time can make him change in such a way that he becomes the enemy you fight against. It was his case in this episode that ended in two deaths, ”he relates.

Sydney Possuelo, a life dedicated to indigenous peoples in Brazil

Possuelo began his career assisting the famous Villas Boas brothers in their work among the indigenous peoples of the Xingu River region. He was the man who changed the whole concept of how to protect Brazilian indigenous people. In the two years he headed FUNAI, the officially demarcated area of ​​indigenous land in Brazil doubled.

For all his work, he has received numerous awards, including from the ‘National Geographic Society’ and a gold medal from the ‘Royal Geographical Society’. Precisely in March of this year, he returned the Medal of Indigenous Merit, which he received from the Brazilian Government 35 years ago. It happened when Bolsonaro was awarded this same award. “They gave this medal to the executioner who oppresses the Indians. I think that was a huge insult to the indigenous peoples. Second, for those who had received it. First of all, I felt solidarity with the Indians. And in the second place, I felt violated. For me, this medal lost its function”, he assures.

Since colonization, Brazil has lost 70% of its indigenous population. For this activist, the future of the more than 300 indigenous peoples who currently live in Brazil depends more on the whites than on them. “The State has the power to demarcate the land and take care of its health. And what has the state done for them? If we will be able to have a decent, correct view of brothers, I believe that despite our wickedness they will survive, but through great struggles, with a lot of work, with great losses, with anguish and pain. All this could be avoided, if we had a fraternal look”, he concludes.