Amid escalating land conflicts in southern Bahia, the Pataxó indigenous people are raising urgent alarm over what they describe as intensifying violence, criminalization, and corporate-driven pressures threatening their ancestral territories and fundamental rights.
On February 24, 2026, the Council of Pataxó Chiefs from the Barra Velha and Comexatibá territories in Bahia, Brazil, issued a statement condemning what it describes as a sharp escalation of violence, persecution, and systemic abuses against the Pataxó people.
Indigenous leaders are being criminalized for defending their constitutionally guaranteed land rights. The extreme south of Bahia is reportedly heavily influenced by armed militias, backed by local politicians and aggressive media outlets aligned with agribusiness interests. These actors portray Indigenous activists as “false” or “alleged” Indigenous people in an attempt to delegitimize their identity and deny their constitutional rights to ancestral lands.
The Council reports that on February 14, another serious incident occurred: a tourist vehicle was shot at during a roadblock organized by farmers on the road to Corumbau. In the same context, an Indigenous vice-leader was held at gunpoint, while her children fled in panic into nearby woods. As in previous cases, instead of investigating the violence, police authorities reportedly moved swiftly to arrest Indigenous leaders. Indigenous organizations and representatives are, according to the statement, being routinely criminalized for reclaiming their land.
This escalating conflict is happening in a region dominated by vast eucalyptus plantations operated by Veracel, a company jointly controlled by the pulp and paper giant Suzano and the Scandinavian corporation Stora Enso. These plantations overlap with customary Indigenous territories and, according to a Public Prosecutor’s investigation, include areas obtained through illegal appropriation.
On February 9, the Council of Pataxó Chiefs formally demanded that the company provide compensation before harvesting timber in the disputed areas. Receiving no response, the company accelerated its harvesting operations the following day, further intensifying tensions in a region already plagued by severe and longstanding land conflicts.
In June 2024, releasing a paper aimed at debunk Suzano’s greenwash, EPN had called private and public banks to stop investing in this company and stop profiting from its severe social and environmental impacts. Financial institutions must urgently review their exposure to companies operating in these disputed territories and suspend financing until Indigenous land rights are fully respected and conflicts are resolved in accordance with the law.