In São Paulo, the largest city in South America, in the midst of buildings and a massive number of cars, there are indigenous territories trying to survive and maintain their culture. On the city’s highest mountain, Morro do Jaraguá, there are more than 500 hectares of forest that formerly belonged to the Guarani indigenous people. Over the centuries, this territory has been taken away from them until now today 2000 indigenous Guaranis live squeezed into an area of one hectare within São Paulo.
Historically, the Guarani people, one of the largest indigenous groups in Brazil, have inhabited vast areas of South America, including present-day Brazil. However, colonization and subsequent urbanization have significantly impacted their way of life, leading to the displacement of many communities and the loss of traditional lands.
In recent decades, indigenous people have fought for the demarcation of lands. Currently, six villages, with just over 2,000 habitants, live in less than one hectare of demarcated land. The area in which explore and share the Guarani culture for new generations is therefore very small.
The Jaraguá community’s proximity to São Paulo, one of Brazil’s largest and most developed cities, paradoxically exacerbates its socio-economic challenges. The community faces high rates of poverty as well as limited access to quality education, healthcare, and employment opportunities. The lack of economic prospects often perpetuates a cycle of poverty, further marginalizing the community.
“Our young people spend many days unoccupied, without a job and unable to generate knowledge about the culture. Indigenous people, when they live without access to the forest and natural resources, it’s as if they die a bit every day, because you don’t develop”, says Evandro Santos, an indigenous leader in the community. “It’s like living squeezed into the biggest city in the country,” he added.
As we walk along a forest trail to visit the area, Chief Márcio Werá Mirim from the Tekoá Yvy Porã village reveals some sacred stories of his people.
“Ka’agüy poru ey is what we call the sacred and untouchable forests, places that men should never touch,” says the Guarani leader.
We walk to a point where it is no longer possible to hear the noise of cars coming from the city, less than 2 kilometers away. Instead, in this protected area, the songs of birds and the sound of trees predominate.
‘Untouched’, however, is not the case for the Jaraguá indigenous land where we find ourselves. Located in the northwest zone of the municipality of São Paulo, 16 kilometers from the center of São Paulo, this territory has been the scene of land disputes and invasions since the 16th century. The region was one of the first gold mining areas in Brazil and was later exploited for coffee growing and has suffered from invasions and real estate speculation for decades.
“The city is moving deeper and deeper into the territory. Great entrepreneurs are coming to the edge of the village. Funai (in the old government) used to say that companies did not need to be consulted to carry out their undertakings,” says Marcio Boggarim, one of the main indigenous leaders of the Jaragua village.
One of the most pressing issues faced by the Jaraguá community is the delayed land demarcation process. According to the Brazilian Constitution, indigenous communities have the right to ancestral lands that are critical to preserve their cultural heritage and way of life. However, the demarcation process has been hindered by bureaucracy, legal disputes, and resistance from various stakeholders, including government agencies and private interests.
The Jaraguá community has been waiting for more than two decades for the demarcation of its land which previously covered 500 square kilometers. However, so far, only one hectare of land has been cleared since the beginning of the last decade. To avoid new invasions, the indigenous people have divided and spread out within what will be their future territory. It is a process of resistance and struggle to ensure that future Guaranis can continue to live in the region.
“In terms of resistance, we have been resisting for more than five hundred years. It is very important to have the land demarcated and approved. Otherwise, the indigenous people are forced to stay on this land only to make sure that it is not occupied. Hence, they cannot afford to travel or going abroad to study, for instance. It is the only territory within the capital that is preserved on behalf of the indigenous people,” stated Evandro Santos.
Attempts to break the poverty cycle
With no space to plant, no jobs and no government assistance, much depends on handouts to survive.
Surrounded by polluted rivers, noise, traffic and deforestation, and disputing every inch with the largest metropolis in Brazil, the 125 indigenous families living in the six villages of the Jaraguá area came together in 2017 to recover native seedlings from the Atlantic Forest.
Evandro has also been trying to break this cycle and recently specialized in family farming, dedicating time to teaching indigenous children in the village how to plant and not depend on the city to survive. In an isolated area of the park, the indigenous people have planted fruit trees, plants and vegetables. Today, part of the village is fed entirely from the garden that Evandro designed.
“No indigenous people can live outside their communities. Our way of life, our customs, our past is here in the forest. If I don’t fight for this to become the present and our future, it’s like I’m throwing the history of all the Guaranis in the trash,” Santos said.
The Guaranis have also created a project to recover nine species of native bees, formerly extinct in the region. Unlike African bees, better known to the general population, native Brazilian bees do not have stings and hence are harmless.
Native bees are sacred animals for the Guaranis because tradition states that the wax produced has the power to scare away evil spirits. They are also used to produce honey and propolis to cure various diseases.
After six years of work, the Guarani of Jaraguá can now boast a meliponary – the name given to the group of hives of indigenous bees – which has 300 hives and nine species of native bees.
As well as providing food, the return of native bees has restored an important part of the ancestral way of life of the Guarani, such as the rituals for revealing the names of babies — performed using candles made with beeswax— and the production of incense to treat depression and mental illness.
“It is too distressing for an indigenous person not to be able to bathe in a river, but now we have native beekeeping, which brings us peace, calms the spirit and reinforces our traditions. In addition, our springs are more flowery and our agroforestry is more productive,” says Evandro.
