Brazil Indigenous people rally for land protection

STORY: Thousands of Indigenous protestors in Brazil marched around the national congress on Thursday, calling on the government to protect their ancestral lands.

It's part of a yearly protest this week -- in defense of Indigenous land rights.

They are upset with the government for planning a railway to transport grain from farm states to ports in the Amazon for export as they fear doing so will destroy the environment of tribal communities near the Tapajos river.

Mana Shanenawa is an Indigenous leader taking part.

"In the past, we died by the knife, by the bullet and today we die by the pen -by making laws and by taking away our rights. This is a huge genocide that can happen within our nation, within the people, because our indigenous land is life. For us, it is forest and life."

The protestors accuse Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government of not keeping to promises to officially recognize Indigenous reservations as ancestral lands.

They say the recognition is essential to protect their territories from illegal loggers, wildcat gold miners and land grabbers encroaching on the expanding agricultural frontier in the Amazon.

President Lula, who met with 40 Indigenous leaders who led the march, said on X that, quote:

"It is my moral duty to do what I can to minimize the suffering of Indigenous people and guarantee their rights."

But the leaders came away with little more than promises.

Lula's minority government is undecided on whether to approve the railway project, which has strong backing from Brazil's powerful agricultural sector.

However, the farm caucus in Congress is pressing for the building of the 590-mile-long railway, first proposed in 2015 before Lula was in office.

In a statement to Reuters, the caucus said the project is of extreme importance for the shipment of grains.

They claim it will cut freight costs by 25% and release less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the trucks that are currently used.