MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lula partially vetoes time frame clause for indigenous ancestral lands

Guajajara said that the points that were not vetoed do not harm the indigenous policy

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva exercised his veto powers when enacting a law passed by Congress regarding the timeframe for ancestral land ownership by indigenous communities, Agencia Brasil reported.

Lula decided to partially veto the bill establishing that indigenous peoples were only entitled to the lands they occupied or claimed until Oct. 5, 1988, when the current Federal Constitution was approved. This thesis is known as “the temporal milestone.” The head of state's decision was to be published in an extra edition of the Federal Official Gazette (DOU).

Bill 2.903/2023 was approved by the National Congress on September 27. A week earlier, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) had invalidated the time frame thesis, although it defined compensation for bona fide occupants. At the time, Senate Speaker Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), denied that the bill was passed to defy the STF.

“Today I vetoed several articles of Bill 2903/2023, alongside minister @GuajajaraSonia and ministers @padilhando and @jorgemessiasagu, in accordance with the Supreme Court's decision on the matter. Let's talk and keep working so that we have, as we do today...”Lula wrote on social media.

Asked about the expectations of native groups, who demanded a total veto, Indigenous Peoples Minister Sônia Guajajara said that the points that were not vetoed do not harm the indigenous policy. “What was left in is what is in some legal provision, which will not change anything that we already have guaranteed in the Federal Constitution, and now in the latest STF decision. We are totally open to dialog with the indigenous movement, to clarify and build, as well as with the National Congress itself.”

In addition to the time frame, which has already been deemed unconstitutional by the STF, the possibility of paying prior compensation for demarcations was vetoed, according to the Federal Attorney General, Jorge Messias. The possibility of reviewing demarcations that have already been made, the cultivation of transgenic crops, mining, and the construction of highways on indigenous lands without the authorization of the indigenous communities were other points vetoed.

With Lula's partial enactment, the vetoed provisions go back to Congress for further analysis.

A veto is the President of the Republic's disagreement with a particular bill approved by the Legislative Houses of the National Congress. The Constitution stipulates that it must be considered by parliamentarians in a joint session, and an absolute majority of votes from federal deputies (at least 257) and senators (at least 41) is required for it to be rejected.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)