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Tapi Yawalapiti, the struggle of the natives of Amazonia in the blood
Tapi Yawalapiti in the Xingu Indigenous Park, Brazil, in July 2022. © Sarah Cozzolino/RFI
Text by: Sarah Cozzolino Follow
5 mins
After the death of his father from the consequences of Covid-19 in 2020, the cacique of the village Yawalapiti, in the Xingu park, in Brazil, took up the torch of the fight for the rights of the indigenous people.
He is worried about the attitude of the Brazilian government towards them.
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From our correspondent back from Xingu, in the Brazilian Amazon,
Tapi Yawalapiti squints and points to the sun-yellowed lawn all around him.
“
If we set fire here, we lose control,
he warns,
it's fire season and you have to be very careful.
He arranged to meet us at the Leonardo Villas Boas pole, named after one of the brothers who founded the Xingu Indigenous Park, the largest indigenous reserve in Brazil.
At 45, Tapi became chief of the Yawalapiti village after the death of his father, Aritana.
The former cacique was also the spokesperson for the Xingu, where sixteen peoples live, each with different languages.
Despite this mosaic, "
Our struggle unites us
", sums up the t-shirt Tapi is wearing that day.
A white t-shirt on which appears a map of the Xingu with the specificities of the region: a tapir, indigenous motifs and instruments, and above all the route of the Xingu river and its tributaries.
Near the Leonardo pole, the Tuatuari river is increasingly dry.
Although the Xingu Park is theoretically protected by its statute and by Funai, the National Indian Foundation, it is difficult to control the rivers feeding the Xingu outside the park.
“
We don't know if the water we drink is polluted, if the fish we eat are intoxicated
,” sighs Tapi.
“
We who dwell in the forest,
we know how to preserve it, preserve the rivers, but we feel the impact of climate change in recent years.
All around the Xingu Park, the forest has been replaced by corn and soybean fields as far as the eye can see.
The cacique was 19 when he began following his father in his fight for the rights of indigenous peoples.
"
My father was a diplomat,
" says Tapi.
He understood that unity is strength.
Aritana was from another generation, from those who had participated in the demarcation of the 26,000 km2 of Xingu territory in the 1960s. He was the only one in the region who could speak so many languages - six - to be able to interact with different peoples.
One year mourning
Tapi remembers the Covid-19 pandemic as a real test for his people.
First, because this new disease has undermined their model of society.
“
When the rule came from outside, from the city, saying that we had to live apart, it was not possible for us,
explains the cacique.
We cannot break our social organization based on the community.
In each village, families live in traditional
malocas
, large community huts where around twenty people live, which has accelerated the contamination of the natives.
During this period, traditional healers and doctors worked together.
The
pajés
, shamans who smoke a large cigar to communicate with the spirits of the sick, act first.
Then comes the turn of the
raizeiros
, specialists in root-based teas capable of healing.
Only after these two traditional healers comes the "classical" doctor and his medicines.
"
Using these teas has allowed us to heal faster
," says Tapi, who points out that in most villages, few natives have succumbed to Covid.
►
To read and listen also: Indigenous people of Amazonia: when traditional and Western medicine complement each other
The other ordeal, more personal, was the death of his father.
"
I lost a comrade in the fight
," sighs Tapi.
According to Xingu tradition, the new cacique had to wear mourning for a year, observing the rule of seclusion, that is, not being able to leave his
maloca
.
After a year, the ritual of
Kuarup
, a festival where the different villages come together to fight, dance and sing in homage to the deceased, puts an end to the mourning of the village.
Alone against the government
Today, the cacique feels ready to assume the legacy of his father.
Tapi, whose mother tongue is from the Aruak family, speaks five indigenous languages.
He has already met with Pope Francis and actor Leonardo DiCaprio to discuss the threats faced by the indigenous peoples of the Amazon.
“
With this government, our territory, like all indigenous lands in the country, is threatened
,” he thinks.
This is the reason why he often travels abroad, in Europe in particular, to ask for financial and political help from the countries of the old world.
“
Because here we are alone, the president wants to destroy our house.
Since the beginning of his mandate, President Jair Bolsonaro has pursued a policy that has encouraged deforestation in the Amazon, whose sad records regularly make headlines.
According to the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), 5,474 km2 have been deforested since the start of 2022.
For the cacique, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the only one who seems to take the indigenous cause seriously.
And to continue the fight, Tapi counts on his five children.
The oldest, Kanawan, 18, and Katuapo, 15, are already following their father's commitment closely.
They know that one day they will take over the struggle of the natives of Xingu.
Until then, Tapi hopes to see a “
different Brazil
” taking shape, more concerned with the preservation of natural resources.
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