Dear Editor,
As Amerindians observe heritage month in Guyana it is good to take note of the election campaign in neighbouring Brazil leading up to the polls on October 2nd. In the State of Roraima there is an interesting political development where an Indigenous Wapichana woman, who is a Federal State Deputy, is on the campaign trail for e-election.
Joenia Wapichana was elected federal deputy for the state of Roraima, from the party list of the Sustainability Network (REDE), in the 2018 general elections. She is the first Indigenous female elected to the Chamber of Deputies and the second Indigenous federal deputy since the election of Mário Juruna, 1982. Joenia is 49 years old and comes from humble beginning. She obtained her law degree from the Federal University of Roraima [Brazil], and Masters at the University of Arizona, USA. Her entry into politics sprang from working with the Councilio Indigenista of Roraima (CIR) where she worked as a lawyer. CIR is an Indigenous movement similar to the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) in Guyana.
The Indigenous attorney and politician has twenty-two years of experience working with Indigenous grassroots movement in Roraima. Joenia broke all stereotypes after becoming a lawyer and subsequently a politician especially among the political elite in Brazil, who perceived Indigenous women as domestic maids and where Indigenous presence at the highest decision level was once prohibited. As an attorney, Joenia took a land dispute to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and became the first Indigenous lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court of Brazil. She is the current president of the National Commission for the Defense of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2004, she filed a court issue with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, asking them to compel the Brazilian government to officially set out the boundaries of the Indigenous Territory of Rapo-sa Serra do Sol which are the traditional homelands of the Ingariko, Macushi, Patamona, Taurepang and Wapichan peoples.
In 2005, the Supreme Court of Brazil (STF) ratified the boundaries of the reserve and declared it an environmental conservation area in which Native rights were constitutionally protected, but altercations between loggers, miners and the Native communities continued. In 2008, Joenia Wapichana argued before the STF once again. The case concerned whether the government had the right to divide the lands of the Raposa Serra do Sol into fragmented areas to support claims to the land by prospectors and rice producers. The Indigenous lawyer argued that the constitution forbade such divisions and would be a violation of the protections in the constitution for Indigenous rights. On 19 March 2009, the STF, in a vote of ten to one, confirmed the exclusive right of the Indigenous people to occupy and use the reserve lands of Raposa Serra do Sol.
In 2013, she was appointed the first president of the recently created National Commission for the Defense of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The post was created by the Order of Attorneys of Brazil as a means of monitoring legislation which might impact Indigenous rights. The role of the commission is to support and intervene if need arise in legal matters of the lower courts or Supreme Court in cases which impact Indigenous rights. In 2004, Joenia received the Reebok Human Rights Award, and in 2010 was honoured with the Ordem do Merito Cultural by the Brazilian government and in 2018 she was awarded the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights. Being an Indi-genous woman and a lawyer within the incumbent Bolsonaro rightwing government, despite the many setbacks and challenges from internal politics, Joenia executed projects to help her people. She also denounced mining activities and pollution of rivers by extractive operations on indigenous lands.
In Roraima, the Indigenous population has approximately seventy thousand people but are faced with many challenges, regarding lands and natural resources that are up for exploitation for ‘development’. Under this socio-economic repression, the Indigenous people are resisting but their resistance is causing them to become victims of anti-Indigenous violence from those that are obsessed with business and profit. Joenia Wapichana would have become the first Indigenous minister of Indigenous people in Brazil under the current regime but stood out for her principles; not to go against her people especially seeing what the Bolsonaro administration is doing to them. On behalf of the Wapichan nation and the Indigenous people of Guyana, we wish Deputy Joenia Wapichana of Roraima state all the best in the upcoming election to be re-elected; and to continue to fight for her people. She has already made history being the first Indigenous lawyer and female deputy; this great Indigenous female politician must continue, furthermore, if the opposition party which is leading in the polls for election in October wins, it is touted that Joenia would become the first Indigenous minister in Brazil with its own ministry of Indigenous People Affairs. Such great history in the making will be excellent! Continue to make us proud and inspire Guyanese Indigenous people Joenia!
Sincerely,
Immaculata Casimero
Wapichan, South Rupununi
Medino Abraham SJ
Lokono-Arawak, Moruca