Indigenous people of the Guaraní people celebrated on Thursday the official demarcation of their territory, located in Jaraguá, in the northern area of the city of São Paulo, after having won a historic agreement with the mayor’s office of shared management over a section of a state park.

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The celebration ceremony in Tekoa Pyau village was open to the public and featured songs, dances and messages from community leaders about memory, the importance of resistance and its projections into the future.

The celebration also included the signing of the agreement between the indigenous peoples and members of the state government, which includes shared management of overlapping areas, as well as guaranteeing the right to free movement of indigenous people through space.

The Jaraguá Indigenous Land, a little over 500 hectares, was officially recognized in October last year, although an agreement on an area claimed by the indigenous peoples that overlaps with the jurisdiction of the Jaraguá State Park still remained to be reached, considered an environmental conservation unit.

In the signed agreement, both parties made commitments to ensure the environmental preservation of the territory, such as the sustainable management of natural resources, the prohibition of hunting, efforts to recover springs and training indigenous people to act as monitors and firefighters.

In 2024, the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, said that the demarcation resolutions are an important official act of institutional recognition of the right of indigenous peoples to permanent possession of the territories they traditionally occupy.

“Since 2018, no demarcation was made and we already have 11 recognized indigenous territories. This is a record and we will continue to demarcate, but always with great security and according to what our constitution provides”, he declared.

The process of demarcation of indigenous territories is highly complex and takes place in successive stages, which still require the issuance of administrative acts by the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI), the Ministry of Justice and Public Security itself and the Presidency of the Republic. The next step is the physical demarcation by FUNAI and the final stage of the demarcation is assigned to the President of the Republic, who, by decree, confirms the demarcation procedure.

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