For decades, thousands of illegal settlers stripped the Apyterewa and Trincheira Bacajá Indigenous territories in Brazil’s Pará state of forest, hunting grounds, and safety. In October 2023 C.E., the Brazilian government launched a major enforcement operation to remove those intruders and restore exclusive control of the land to its rightful inhabitants — the Parakanã, Mebêngôkre Kayapó, Xikrin, and other Indigenous peoples, including uncontacted and recently contacted groups.
At a glance
- Amazon deforestation: The Apyterewa Indigenous territory recorded the highest deforestation levels in the entire Amazon Rainforest for four consecutive years, losing more than 261,931 acres of forest to logging, mining, and ranching since 2007 C.E.
- Indigenous land rights: Around 2,500 Indigenous people live in the two territories, but illegal settlers outnumbered residents in Apyterewa — roughly 1,000 settlers to 730 Native occupants — and occupied approximately 80% of the land.
- Enforcement operation: Since the operation began, federal agencies seized 9,700 items including firearms, heavy machinery, and illegal timber, and issued the equivalent of $354,735 in fines, with three people arrested in the first week alone.
The operation, ordered by Brazil’s Supreme Court, began October 2, 2023 C.E. and was expected to run 90 days, followed by a consolidation period to prevent reinvasion. It is part of a broader shift under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took office January 1, 2023 C.E. and has moved to reverse years of rollback on Indigenous rights wins that accelerated under his predecessor.
What the land endured
The numbers from Apyterewa are stark. According to Brazil’s space research center INPE, more than 261,931 acres of forest vanished from the territory since its demarcation in 2007 C.E. Research center Fiocruz found that 80% of the land was occupied by non-Indigenous loggers, miners, and squatters, leaving the Parakanã people with access to just 25% of their own territory.
In the Trincheira Bacajá territory, demarcated in 1996 C.E., the situation deteriorated sharply after 2019 C.E. Luisa Molina, an anthropologist and researcher at the Instituto Socioambiental, told Mongabay that deforestation increased by 95% in 2019 C.E. compared to the year before, clearing nearly 9,884 acres. Indigenous leaders reported that settlers were selling lots of Indigenous land via WhatsApp, and threats against community leadership made travel within the territory dangerous.
By October 2023 C.E., IBAMA — Brazil’s environmental agency — detected an additional 2,780 acres of fresh deforestation suspected to have been caused by pesticides sprayed from the air, described as one of the most aggressive and harmful methods of clearing land.
Decades of resistance, one clear demand
This operation did not come easily or quickly. Since the Apyterewa territory was ratified in 2007 C.E., more than 120 injunctions attempted to block the removal of non-Indigenous settlers. A previous removal effort launched in January 2011 C.E. collapsed three months later after a court ruling allowed settlers to stay. A 2015 C.E. Supreme Court order led to another attempt in 2016 C.E. that failed under pressure from rural interests.
The Parakanã people have been consistent throughout. Their representative body, the Tato’a Indigenous Association, issued a statement expressing “broad and unrestricted support” for the 2023 C.E. federal action. “We, the Parakanã people, have been waiting decades for the compliance of removing invaders from our territories, which is fundamental to guarantee our right to exclusive enjoyment of it and vital to ensure the future of current and later generations,” the statement read.
That clarity stands in contrast to the opposition from local politicians. Pará’s governor, the mayor of São Félix do Xingu municipality, and a state deputy all pushed to suspend the removal. Both the mayor and the deputy had previously faced accusations of land-grabbing, according to reporting by Intercept Brasil.
A second front in a larger recovery
The Apyterewa and Trincheira Bacajá operation is the second major enforcement action against Indigenous territory invaders since Lula took office. The first targeted illegal gold mining in the Yanomami territory, where after four months of sustained work, illegal mining alerts dropped to zero — though conflicts during that operation left at least 15 people dead, a reminder of how dangerous enforcement in these regions can be.
Under the government’s framework for this operation, settlers who occupied the land before the end of 2001 C.E. are eligible for compensation, on the basis that they may not have known it was Indigenous territory at the time. Those who arrived from 2002 C.E. onward are not. Anyone found guilty of environmental crimes faces fines from IBAMA.
This story fits into a broader pattern of forest protection efforts across the Amazon, where Indigenous land rights and ecological health are deeply linked — protecting one tends to protect the other.
Still, the path ahead is uncertain. The government’s stated goal is a peaceful and voluntary removal process, but a bridge within the territory was deliberately burned to block federal teams from reaching an illegal farm — a sign of how fiercely some settlers intend to resist. The 90-day timeline, political opposition from state officials, and a history of failed prior attempts all mean the operation’s ultimate success is far from guaranteed.
Read more
For more on this story, see: Mongabay
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Brazil destroys illegal gold mining dredges in the Amazon
- Brazil’s Supreme Court rules to protect Indigenous land rights
- The Good News for Humankind archive on Indigenous rights
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