Ecobreves – BRAZIL: More Indigenous Mayors

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 20 2008 (IPS) - Six Indians were elected to mayoral posts in Brazil this month, doubling the number of indigenous electoral victories from 2004. São Gabriel da Cachoeira, an Amazonian municipality with 90 percent indigenous population, is an emblematic case, because the mayor and vice-mayor are both Indians. The other municipalities with indigenous mayors are found in the Amazon, the Northeast, and the southeast regions of the country.

“These mayors could promote public policies based on indigenous values, especially in environmental protection and social equality with other sectors of the local community,” Marcos Terena, a veteran indigenous activist, told Tierramérica.

The next step will be to elect state and national legislative deputies, “without losing the profile of ethnic representation as added value,” he said.

In addition to the six mayors, there were three vice-mayors and 61 municipal council members elected to office on Oct. 5, according to the Catholic Indigenist Missionary Council.