In a struggle between a Brazilian indigenous tribe and the federal government over two dams that would flood lands claimed by the tribe, a federal judge ruled that the government must immediately publish its report delineating the tribe’s territory that has been withheld for more than a year. But under pressure from the administration of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, the Indigenous Affairs Agency FUNAI (the federal agency responsible for indigenous people) and the Ministry of Justice have refused to officially publish the report, stalling demarcation. This is why the Munduruku indigenous people decided to start the demarcation of their own land. The hidden report has been however leaked by Agência Pública, an investigative journalism project.
The São Luiz do Tapajós dam will fload the traditional lands of Munduruku people, that would be consequestly evicted d from their own territory, which is in a blatant violation of the Brazilian legislation.
In November 2014, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Federal Public Prosecutors’ Office, federal judge Rafael Leite Paulo issued a ruling that requires FUNAI, to publish its report within 15 days and determine the final decision on demarcation of the Sawre Muybu territory. In October 2013, after completing 12 years of field studies, FUNAI completed a technical report confirming the status of Sawre Muybu as the Munduruku people’s traditional indigenous territory. But the report has not been made public.
Agência Pública, which define itself as a “collectively funded journalism laboratory” is based on crowdfunding: those who help finance the agency can choose what journalists should investigate. The agency made immediately public the report hidden by FUNAI.