Sônia Bone de Souza Silva Santos (born 6 March 1974), usually known as Sônia Guajajara, is a Brazilian

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

activist, environmentalist, and politician. A member of the

Socialism and Liberty Party The Socialism and Liberty Party ( pt-BR, Partido Socialismo e Liberdade , PSOL ) is a left-wing political party in Brazil. The party describes itself as socialist and democratic. The party leader is Juliano Medeiros and the federal deputies I ...

(PSOL), she was initially a candidate for

President of Brazil The president of Brazil ( pt, Presidente do Brasil), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil ( pt, Presidente da República Federativa do Brasil) or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head o ...

in the

2018 Brazilian general election General elections were held in Brazil on 7 October 2018 to elect the president, National Congress and state governors. As no candidate in the presidential election received more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a runoff round was held ...

, before being chosen as the vice presidential

running mate A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint Ticket (election), ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position (such as the vice presidential candidate ...

of nominee Guilherme Boulos. This made her the first indigenous person to run for a federal executive position in Brazil. In 2022, Guajajara was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''.

Early life

Sônia Guajajara was born to a

Guajajara The Guajajara are an indigenous peoples of Brazil, indigenous people in the Brazilian state of Maranhão. They are one of the most numerous indigenous groups in Brazil, with an estimated 13,100 individuals living on indigenous land. History In ...

family on Araribóia Indigenous Land ( pt, Terra Indígena Araribóia), located in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

ian

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

in the

northeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

state of

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...

. At the age of 15, she left home at the invitation of

FUNAI is a Japanese consumer electronics company headquartered in Daitō, Osaka. Apart from producing its own branded electronic products, it is also an OEM providing assembled televisions and video players/recorders to major corporations such as Sh ...

and moved to

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

, where she completed her initial education at an agricultural boarding school. Guajajara became interested in politics at a very young age, and stated, "I was born an activist. I’ve spent my whole life fighting against anonymity, against indigenous peoples’ invisibility. I always wanted to find a path, a way to bring the history and way of life of the indigenous people to light for society as a whole." Guajajara would later attend the

Federal University of Maranhão The Federal University of Maranhão ( pt, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, UFMA) is a federal university in the northeastern state of Maranhão, Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), ...

, located in the state capital of São Luís. Guajajara additionally holds a master’s degree in culture and society from the Institute of Humanities, Arts, and Culture at the

Federal University of Bahia The Federal University of Bahia ( pt, Universidade Federal da Bahia, UFBA) is a public university located mainly in the city of Salvador. It is the largest university in the state of Bahia and one of Brazil's most prestigious educational institu ...

. Following graduation, Guajajara worked in a variety of professions, including as a teacher and as a nurse.

Activism and honors

Guajajara is the leader of the ''Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil'' (Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, or "APIB"), an organization that represents around 300 indigenous ethnic groups in Brazil. As an activist, she has been at odds with the ''ruralistas'' in the National Congress, a group of conservative legislators allied with agribusiness interests who favor further development on public lands. Guajajara strongly opposes efforts to contact

uncontacted peoples Uncontacted peoples are groups of indigenous peoples living without sustained contact with neighbouring communities and the world community. Groups who decide to remain uncontacted are referred to as indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. ...

in the Amazon Rainforest. Guajajara has described President

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...

as "a threat to the planet" due to his

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

policies. In 2020, she called for urgent environmental action amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. During her time as an activist, she has organized a number of demonstrations in support of indigenous rights in Brazil, and facilitated a meeting of indigenous leaders with then-President

Dilma Rousseff Dilma Vana Rousseff (; born 14 December 1947) is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil, holding the position from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the first w ...

in 2013. In 2015, she was named to the Brazilian

Ordem do Mérito Cultural The Ordem do Mérito Cultural is an honor bestowed by the Ministry of Culture to personalities, bodies both public and private, national and foreign, as a recognition of their contributions to Brazilian culture. The award was established bLaw N ...

. She was also awarded a medal by Maranhão state. In March 2022 she was amongst 151 international feminists signing ''Feminist Resistance Against War: A Manifesto'', in solidarity with the

Feminist Anti-War Resistance Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAR or FAWR, russian: Феминистское антивоенное сопротивление (ФАС), Feministskoye antivoyennoye soprotivleniye (FAS)) is a group of Russian feminists founded in February 2022 to ...

initiated by Russian feminists after the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Political career

Party politics

Guajajara became a member of the Workers' Party (PT), the left-wing party that ruled Brazil from 2003 to 2016, in 2000. In 2011, Guajajara left the party due to its alliance with

Roseana Sarney Roseana Sarney Murad (born 1 June 1953) is a Brazilian politician and sociologist. She was the governor of the Brazilian state of Maranhão from 1995 to 2002 and again from 2009 to 2014. She is a member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Part ...

, a conservative politician who served as Governor of her home state of Maranhão. She later joined the

(PSOL), a socialist party initially founded by PT dissidents. In the run-up to the 2014 presidential election, Guajajara criticized the presidency of

in an interview, stating that the "Dilma government was very bad for us". In the same interview, she also cautioned against the election of a right-wing

Brazilian Social Democracy Party The Brazilian Social Democracy Party ( pt, Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, PSDB), also known as the Brazilian Social Democratic Party or the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy,. is a political party in Brazil Brazil has a multi-pa ...

(PSDB) to the presidency. Despite her misgivings, Guajajara denounced the

impeachment of Dilma Rousseff The impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, the 36th president of Brazil, began on 2 December 2015 with a petition for her impeachment being accepted by Eduardo Cunha, then president of the Chamber of Deputies, and continued into late 2016. Dilma Rousse ...

that led to the installation of

Michel Temer Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia (; born 23 September 1940) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer and writer who served as the 37th president of Brazil from 31 August 2016 to 31 December 2018. He took office after the impeachment and removal from off ...

as President, describing it as a "coup".

2018 presidential election

In 2018, Guajajara announced her intention to run for

as a member of PSOL. Her candidacy was backed by the support of the

ecosocialist Eco-socialism (also known as green socialism or socialist ecology) is an ideology merging aspects of socialism with that of green politics, ecology and alter-globalization or anti-globalization. Eco-socialists generally believe that the expansi ...

wing of the party. In the end, she was chosen by labor leader Guilherme Boulos to serve as his vice presidential

on the PSOL ticket. Guajajara was the first indigenous person to run for a federal executive office in Brazil.

2022 Chamber of Deputies election

Guajajara was confirmed as a pre-candidate for

federal deputy The Chamber of Deputies ( pt, Câmara dos Deputados) is a federal legislative body and the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. The chamber comprises 513 deputies, who are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year ...

in the

2022 Brazilian general election General elections were held on 2 October 2022 in Brazil to elect the president, vice president, the National Congress, the governors, vice governors, and legislative assemblies of all federative units, and the district council of Fernando de ...

. In January 2023, President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party, ...

appointed Guajajara to lead the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guajajara, Sonia 1974 births Living people Socialism and Liberty Party politicians Workers' Party (Brazil) politicians Brazilian politicians of indigenous peoples descent Brazilian women activists Brazilian environmentalists Brazilian women environmentalists Ecofeminists Indigenous activists of the Americas People from Maranhão Brazilian feminists Indigenous feminists Candidates for Vice President of Brazil Indigenous women Government ministers of Brazil Women government ministers of Brazil