Brazil swears in Sonia Guajajara as Indigenous Peoples Minister

Sonia Guajajara, an influential Indigenous rights activist and lawmaker, has been sworn in to lead Brazil's Ministry of Indigenous Peoples.

Guajajara was sworn in on Wednesday at the Planalto Palace in capital Brasilia in presence of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, lawmakers and representatives from Brazil's Black and Indigenous movements.

Guajajara, who heads Association of Brazilian Indigenous People, touched upon the significance for being the first-ever Minster of Indigenous Peoples, saying, "If I am here today, it is thanks to the ancestral and spiritual strength of my Guajajara Tentehar people."

"Thanks to the centuries-old resistance of the struggle of the Indigenous peoples of Brazil. Thanks as well to my persistence of never giving up," she said.

Guajajara began working at the age of 10 after leaving home. She is a member of the Amazon Guajajara and was named in Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people in 2022.

Resistance to Bolsonaro's policies

A relentless campaigner for her community, Guajajara resisted former president Jair Bolsonaro's policies that she had described "institutionalised genocide."

Far-right Bolsonaro's rule saw Brazil pushing for mining on Indigenous reservations and his vocal support for wildcat gold miners — a group accused of invading native lands, raping and killing inhabitants and poisoning their water with mercury.

Bolsonaro, who once said "it's a shame that the Brazilian cavalry hasn't been as efficient as the Americans, who exterminated the Indians" was accused of rolling back on environmental protections in the Amazon during his rule, resulting in ecological destruction and impacting the lives of Indigenous communities there.

During his election campaign, however, Lula promised to create the Indigenous cabinet department, insisting Indigenous people would safeguard the Amazon forest "if they had the authority to take care of it".

In the wake of challenges Indigenous people face in Brazil, Guajajara in her speech pledged to restore the National Committee of Indigenous Policy which seeks to guarantee equal participation between Indigenous representatives from all Brazilian states and federal executive bodies.

She also called for "effective Indigenous citizenship" that she said cannot take place without the demarcation of territories, environmental and territorial protections, continued access to free quality public education and vast coverage to comprehensive health care.

Guajajara stressed Indigenous populations suffered the most during the global pandemic due to the "denialist" policies of Bolsonaro and also paid rich tributes to Indigenous expert Bruno Araujo Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips who were murdered in the Amazon region in June 2022.