The decision came after the autarchy's president was absent from the meeting. According to quilombolas, there is no commitment to or progress on the movement's agenda.
Text updated on 4/25/2025 at 20:47.
The National Coordination of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (Conaq) announced, this Thursday (24), its departure from the Quilombola Table of the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra). In video posted on Instagram, the executive coordinator of Conaq Maria Rosalina announced the decision accompanied by a group of quilombola leaders and said that “there is no table for dialogue if those who hold the pen in their hands do not participate”.
The decision came after the absence of the agency's president from Thursday's meeting. According to Conaq, the absence reflects a lack of commitment and progress on the movement's previously presented agenda.
Em note published on its website, Conaq stated its openness to dialogue and requested an agenda with the President of the Republic, the Minister of Agrarian Development, Paulo Teixeira, and other ministries involved in the quilombola agenda. "The complexity and gravity of the issues faced by quilombos demand the effective and committed participation of other ministries and federal agencies, with decision-making power and the capacity to establish and fulfill concrete commitments," it noted.
According to data from Terra de Direitos, 'at the current rate, Brazil will take 2.188 years to title all quilombola territories currently under process at INCRA.' Given the above, and considering the structural slowness in granting title to quilombola territories, CONAQ demands dialogue with the institutions and authorities responsible for protecting our territories, as provided for in extensive national and international legislation – such as Article 68 of the Transitional Constitutional Provisions Act (ADCT), Decree No. 4.887/2003, and ILO Convention No. 169,' the statement reads.
Created in 2013, the Mesa Quilombola (Quilombola Roundtable) aims to enforce and guarantee rights, such as the recognition and titling of territories. The body brings together representatives of the quilombola movement, partner organizations, and public agencies to discuss and propose solutions to the challenges faced by communities. The roundtable was suspended in 2017 during the Temer administration and resumed only six years later, in 2024.
drop of water
The meeting was scheduled, and several quilombola leaders from different states traveled from their territories to attend and address urgent demands. However, INCRA president César Aldrighi did not attend and sent his deputy, Débora Mabel Nogueira, who left before the meeting ended, leaving the meeting without any progress being made.
"This is the 18th meeting we've come to express our regrets to ourselves, because those who truly hold the power of the pen are not present so as not to commit to the quilombola cause," Rosalina explained in the video.
This isn't the first time Conaq has withdrawn from the Quilombola Board. In 2015, during the 9th National Board of Quilombola Land Regularization Policy, the organization also left the meeting, citing INCRA's disregard for the issue. Despite criticism of the agency, the situation has recurred.
"Since 2023, INCRA has based its actions on dialogue and respect for the autonomy of social movements. The National Monitoring Board for Quilombola Land Regularization Policy is a victory for society. Its activities were resumed after being suspended between 2017 and 2022," the agency said in a note sent to the Socioenvironmental Institute (ISA). "The Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming and Incra are available to continue the dialogue and plan actions that strengthen quilombola policy in the country," the text continues.
"It is important to highlight that the resumption of the quilombola policy resulted in more than 735 thousand hectares identified and allocated, 32 titles issued, and 19 thousand families benefited. The INCRA Directorate of Quilombola Territories was created - unprecedented in the history of Brazil. In 2024, we had the highest number of decrees of social interest for quilombola territories per year in history: 31," the document states.
Titling in Pará
Also on Thursday, the Coordination of Associations of Remaining Quilombo Communities of Pará (Malungu) also published a rejection note against the stagnation of quilombola land titling in Pará. The organization denounces that INCRA has not granted title to quilombola communities in Pará since 2018, when the last one occurred in the municipality of Bujaru. Malungu brings together 31 quilombola organizations.
"Until regularization is achieved, quilombola areas remain vulnerable to invasion by farmers, miners, and squatters, as well as the advancement of large-scale projects. Thousands of quilombola families in Pará continue to fight for the realization of the right guaranteed by the Federal Constitution: the regularization of their collective lands," the statement states. Furthermore, Malungu points to the agency's lack of capacity, as it lacks sufficient staff to handle the volume of open titling processes.
"At the INCRA Superintendence in Santarém, for over three years, only one employee has been responsible for handling 19 procedures for Quilombola land titling, 84% of which were opened more than 18 years ago. [...] Meanwhile, at the INCRA Superintendence in Belém, 53 procedures are underway, and of these, 29 are in the initial phase, without any field visits by the land agency. Among these, there are procedures initiated in 2005," the document states.
Malungu demands the dismissal of the current superintendent of INCRA in Santarém, José Maria de Sousa Melo, and the immediate restructuring of the Quilombola Division within the same superintendence. It also demands immediate action to expedite the preparation of the Technical Identification and Delimitation Report (RTID) at the Belém Superintendence. It also calls for urgent measures to update the List of Beneficiaries of quilombola territories throughout the state of Pará.
Loading