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) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

activist, environmentalist, and politician. A member of the

Socialism and Liberty Party The Socialism and Liberty Party (, ; PSOL ) is a left-wing political party in Brazil. The party describes itself as socialist and democratic. The party leader is Paula Coradi and the federal deputies Ivan Valente, Talíria Petrone, Sâmi ...

(PSOL), she was initially a candidate for

President of Brazil The president of Brazil (), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil () or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head of government of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the ...

in the

2018 Brazilian general election General elections were held in Brazil on 7 October 2018 to elect the president, National Congress of Brazil, National Congress and Governor (Brazil), state governors. As no candidate in the presidential election (and for the gubernatorial electi ...

, before being chosen as the vice presidential

running mate A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint 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 running with a pre ...

of nominee

Guilherme Boulos Guilherme Castro Boulos (; born 19 June 1982) is a Brazilian politician, activist and writer. He is a member of the National Coordination of Homeless Workers' Movement (MTST). Boulos joined the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) in 2018, and w ...

. 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 continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''.

Early life

Sônia Guajajara was born to a

Guajajara The Guajajara are an 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 1901, the Guajajara fought C ...

family on Araribóia Indigenous Land (), located in the

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

ian

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

in the northeastern state of

Maranhão Maranhão () is a States of Brazil, state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of and it is divided into 217 municipalities. Clockwise from north, it ...

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

FUNAI is a Japanese consumer electronics company headquartered in Daitō, Osaka. Currently, it is in liquidation. Apart from producing its own branded electronic products, it was also an OEM providing assembled televisions and video players/recor ...

and moved to

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

, 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 (, UFMA) is a federal university in the northeastern state of Maranhão, Brazil. See also *List of federal universities of Brazil This is a list of federal University, universities in Brazil. * Universi ...

, 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 (, UFBA) is a public university located mainly in the city of Salvador. It is the largest university in the state of Bahia. Students can study there without paying tuition fees, as it is a public university. To j ...

. 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 Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...

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. Leg ...

in the Amazon Rainforest. Guajajara has described President

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (Brazil), Chamb ...

as "a threat to the planet" due to his

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction 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. Ab ...

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

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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 from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the only woman to have held the ...

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 (Brazil), Ministry of Culture to personalities, bodies both public and private, national and foreign, as a recognition of their contributions to Brazilian culture. Th ...

. 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 Russian

Feminist Anti-War Resistance Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAR or FAWR, ) is a group of Russian feminists founded in February 2022 to protest against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In its first month, FAR became "one of Russia’s fastest-growing anti-war campaigns", a ...

Political career

Party politics

Guajajara became a member of the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

(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, who previously served as the Governor of Maranhão from 1995 to 2002 and from 2009 to 2014. Sarney served as a Senator from 2003 to 2009 and a member of the Cham ...

, 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 (, PSDB), also known as the Brazilian Social Democratic Party or the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy,. is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Brazil. As the formerly third largest p ...

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

impeachment of Dilma Rousseff The impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, the 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 (Brazil), Chamber of Deputies, and continued int ...

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 1 January 2019. He took office after the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impe ...

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, socialist ecology, ecological materialism, or revolutionary ecology) is an ideology merging aspects of socialism with that of green politics, ecology and alter-globalization or anti-globalization. E ...

wing of the party. In the end, she was chosen by labor leader

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 in the

2022 Brazilian general election General elections were held in Brazil on 2 October 2022 to elect the President of Brazil, president, Vice President of Brazil, vice president, the National Congress of Brazil, National Congress, the 2022 Brazilian gubernatorial elections, govern ...

. She was elected with 156,966 votes. In January 2023, President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...

appointed Guajajara to lead the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. She was sworn in on 11 January 2023.

Awards

In November 2023, Guajajara was named to the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's 100 Women list, which features 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world.

Notes

References

External links

* {{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 Brazilian activists People from Maranhão Brazilian feminists Indigenous feminists of the Americas Candidates for Vice President of Brazil 21st-century indigenous women of the Americas Government ministers of Brazil Women government ministers of Brazil Indigenous Brazilian women