Eight audio messages sent by local ranchers in the Xingu River basin, in Pará, threaten a coordinated invasion of the Apyterewa Indigenous Territory if Senator Flávio Bolsonaro wins Brazil's presidential runoff scheduled for October 25. The recordings, reported on Monday (12) by the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, were handed to federal intelligence agencies and triggered an alert among regional protection bodies.
The protected reserve in southern Pará is home to the Parakanã people, a group that had recent contact with non-Indigenous society and remains particularly vulnerable to external pressure and infectious diseases. According to Folha, the voice notes circulated via WhatsApp among local residents, warning of an immediate takeover after the ballots close. Federal investigators are also examining whether a recent wave of wildfires inside the reserve was set intentionally by local landholders.
Tension in Apyterewa reflects how Brazil's political contest links directly to international commodities markets and global climate targets. Located in one of the most pressured agricultural frontiers of the Amazon, the territory has long suffered from illegal clear-cutting to create illicit cattle pastures, a practice facing tightening scrutiny from overseas agricultural buyers demanding deforestation-free supply chains. In previous years, illegal settlers went as far as building a small town inside the reserve, known as Vila Renascer.
Federal authorities previously expelled unauthorized cattle ranchers through joint operations led by the National Indian Foundation (Funai), environmental agency Ibama, and the Federal Highway Police, whose officers faced armed ambushes during enforcement missions. While the eviction process concluded successfully, irregular monitoring and campaign rhetoric promising to halt land titling have encouraged former invaders to attempt a return.
Indigenous representatives and rights groups are calling on the federal government to establish permanent security outposts along Xingu access points throughout the election period. Federal authorities continue evaluating intelligence reports and considering preventive security deployments to deter incursions and prevent violent confrontations on voting day.