President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) contradicted the understanding of his own government by retreating from the demarcation of four Indigenous Lands in April 2024. Documents obtained by Folha show that, according to legal analysis, there was no impediment to the homologation of the territories, contrary to what the president and his ministers claim. The temporal framework law would also not be an obstacle to the demarcations, according to a joint understanding of the Casa Civil, the Attorney General's Office, the Union's General Prosecutor's Office, and the ministries of Justice and Indigenous Peoples.
In April, the week before the ATL (Acampamento Terra Livre, the main annual act of the indigenous movement), the government announced two new demarcations. The event, however, had been prepared for six —at the last minute, Planalto retreated on four of them. When contacted by Folha, the Casa Civil stated that "out of caution," it opted to "act with greater social and legal security." The report questioned which processes prevented the demarcations at that event. The ministry specifically cited the decision of Minister Gilmar Mendes, of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), which suspended all processes on the constitutionality of the law that established the temporal framework —the thesis that demarcations must respect the territories occupied in 1988, the date of the Constitution.
The minister's determination occurred on April 22. Lula's retreat, however, was the previous week, on the 18th. And since at least March, there had been an understanding, built in meetings with the Casa Civil itself, that the temporal framework would not impact these six territories. This position, moreover, is found in opinions within the demarcation processes, which Folha had access to. The documents show that after the temporal framework law was sanctioned at the end of 2023, a new evaluation of the homologations was conducted to assess the possible impacts of this legislation on these lands. All opinions concluded that the framework does not affect such demarcations.
Indigenous leaders believe that, in reality, the government does not want to clash with the STF and the ruralist bench in Congress, which has defeated the Executive in the main disputes since 2023.