Parties take action in the STF against time frame

The PT (Workers' Party), the PC do B (Communist Party of Brazil) and the PV (Green Party) filed a lawsuit in the STF (Supreme Federal Court) questioning the validity of the law that establishes the time frame for indigenous lands (14,701 of 2023), promulgated on December 28, 2023 by the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG).

The case was received by the Court on December 29, 2023. On Tuesday (January 2, 2024), STF minister Gilmar Mendes was chosen as rapporteur for the action, which does not yet have a date for judgment.

According to the Supreme Court, parties argue that the STF “has already concluded that the adoption of this time frame to define the traditional occupation of land by indigenous communities is not compatible with the constitutional protection of the rights of indigenous peoples over their territories”.

On December 29, the Apib (Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil), Rede Sustentabilidade and Psol (Partido Solidariedade e Liberdade) also filed a lawsuit with the STF to suspend the law from the time frame and request that it be declared unconstitutional until the final judgment on the issue in Cut.

On the other hand, other acronyms – such as the PL (Liberal Party), the PP (Progressive Party) and the Republicans – entered with an action in the STF to to guarantee the effectiveness of the law.

According to the thesis, indigenous people only have the right to lands that were in their possession on October 5, 1988, the date of promulgation of the Federal Constitution, or that were under legal dispute at the time.

On December 14, the National Congress overturned the president's veto Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to the bill that validated the landmark. In September, before the congressmen's decision, the Supreme Court decided against the landmark. The Court's decision was considered by the Planalto Palace's legal team to justify the presidential veto.