The Defense Public Union (DPU) has asked the federal government to send the National Force and the Federal Police to the Ituna/Itatá Indigenous Territory in Pará after a state law created a conservation unit that exactly overlaps the protected land, leading to a rapid influx of invaders.
According to O Globo, the DPU filed an urgent request on Monday, asking Ministers of Justice and Indigenous Peoples to guarantee "immediate presence" of security forces to prevent imminent conflict and possible genocide of isolated indigenous peoples.
The Ituna/Itatá territory, located in the Médio Xingu region of Pará, has been off‑limits since 2011 by a Funai (National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples) restriction order that protects groups living in voluntary isolation. The restriction is reinforced by a Supreme Federal Court (STF) precedent known as ADPF 991, which establishes a strict use‑regime for such areas.
Five days before the law’s promulgation, the Pará government approved Lei Estadual nº 11.665/2026, which instituted the Área de Proteção Ambiental (APA) Bacajaí covering 142,402 hectares in the municipalities of Altamira and Senator José Porfírio. The APA’s limits match the Ituna/Itatá territory precisely.
The Observatório dos Direitos Humanos dos Povos Indígenas Isolados e de Recente Contato (Opi) warned that the state law effectively re‑labels federal territory to give a veneer of legality to land grabbing, noting that the Brazilian Constitution assigns exclusive authority over indigenous lands to the federal government, making any state‑level allocation null.
Soon after the law’s publication, Opi reported broken fences, removed Funai signage, and circulated audio messages urging invaders to "clear the trails" and secure plots.
By the weekend, Funai agents monitoring the area found a structured camp along the Igarapé Ituna with about 100 people — including men, women, and children — plus 35 motorcycles and four vehicles. Invaders told agents another group of roughly 100 was moving deeper into the territory to open roads and demarcate lots using axes, machetes, brush cutters, and chainsaws, awaiting heavy machinery.
Sources consulted by O Globo said the invasion involves people from Marabá, Itupiranga, Altamira, Senator José Porfírio, Anapu, and Bacajá. Funai servants reported threats and described being outnumbered and unarmed, while the territory lacks overt police presence after the expiration of a previous National Force support order in April 2026.
The DPU’s filing stresses that the Funai restriction order remains fully valid and that any entry is illegal under STF rulings. It requests an emergency portaria to deploy the National Force, empower the Federal Police to combat environmental crimes and invasion of federal property, convene an urgent meeting of federal agencies, and cancel overlapping rural environmental registries and the state law.
Renan Sotto Mayor, one of the DPU attorneys who signed the request, told O Globo: "The law does not alter the protection of the territory; the Funai restriction order remains fully valid, and any ingress or occupation is completely illegal, as reinforced by the STF in ADPF 991. The invasion exposes isolated indigenous peoples to concrete risk of genocide and endangers Funai servants, demanding immediate action from the National Force and the Federal Police.
As of publication, Funai, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples had not responded to requests for comment.