INDIGENOUS PROTAGONISM IN RORAIMA AND ENVIRONMENT GUARDIANSHIP INSIDE THE SAO MARCOS INDIGENOUS LAND

Abstract

This paper presents a case study about an environmental lawsuit proposed by an indigenous citizen and signed by an indigenous lawyer aiming at preserving the environment inside the Indigenous Land of Sao Marcos, near Pacaraima city seat, at the border of the Indigenous Community of Ouro Preto. The case is about the irregular disposal of solid waste by the city seat inside the indigenous land and within the limits of the community where the tuxaua author of lawsuit lives. The objective of the paper is to check whether the judicialization of this environmental claim resulted in the maturation of the indigenous movement pointed out by the exercise of the full protagonism in solving problems arising from the relationship with the Brazilian State. The methodological procedures were partially empirical, based on two years of field observations, carried out at the community and in several meetings at the Public Prosecution Office in Roraima, workshops and assemblies with indigenous leaderships; bibliographic and documental, based on literature and on procedural documents. Finally, it was possible to observe the indigenous protagonism in the defense of their interests through the judicial apparatus of the State, reinforced, in the concrete case, by the nature of the indigenous land as a conservation unit and abandonment of the government tradition of the representation guardianship.