Community-based security initiatives on the borders of the Americas are gaining momentum in the face of the rise of organized crime, increased drug trafficking, and the vulnerability of their populations. In Brazil, beyond the statistics on violence, it is important to observe how indigenous communities are building, based on their own knowledge and forms of organization, strategies to protect their territories and their autonomy.
“When the State does not offer quick responses, this absence also produces effects,” highlights anthropologist Susana Durão, coordinator of the Magüta Extension Program, of the Pro-Rectorate for Extension, Sports and Culture (Proeec), and professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH). The professor, a specialist in security, is one of the organizers of the international meeting “Indigenous Community Security and Self-Determination – Cases on the Borders of the Americas,” which will be held between August 13 and 14, in the Marielle Franco auditorium at IFCH.
Promoted by Magüta, in partnership with the research program Police Unions, Democratic Transformation, and Social Justice at the University of Toronto, Canada, the event will bring together researchers, indigenous leaders, and experts from Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Canada.
According to Canadian anthropologist Beatrice Jauregui, from the University of Toronto and co-organizer of the meeting, "it will be a unique and unprecedented event for the exchange of knowledge between organizers and professionals in the field of community safety from different countries."
Jauregui points out that, in the area of security, there are many similarities between Brazil and Canada. “Both have federal governments that need to rely on complex legal systems to manage public safety for diverse populations, including multiple indigenous communities. Many of these communities face everyday social problems and especially the need to deal with transnational organized crime along international borders,” he explains.
The Canadian has been studying policing and security issues globally for over two decades. "Some of my recent research has focused on the role of police unions. I've been studying self-managed policing among Indigenous communities and the work of organizations like the Association of First Nations Chiefs of Police," she adds.
Reflection on self-determination
Durão emphasizes that, more than a meeting about public security, the event will bring about a reflection on the concept of self-determination of native peoples, by bringing to the debate how indigenous peoples can organize themselves collectively in the defense of their territories.
Indigenous self-determination, enshrined in the Federal Constitution and international instruments for the protection of indigenous peoples, is a principle that recognizes the right of these populations to preserve their own ways of life and social, cultural, and political organization. However, according to Durão, indigenous forms of self-protection are still under debate, and there is no consensus among researchers, representatives of the justice system, and the indigenous communities themselves.
The researcher, who has been working with self-organized protection groups in Alto Solimões (Amazonas) since 2023, emphasizes that the goal of the meeting is to examine the issue from the perspective of the indigenous peoples themselves. Therefore, the program was organized to prioritize the participation of community leaders. “We don’t want them to just listen to academics talking about their realities. We want them to have a voice to present their own experiences and their differing viewpoints,” she states.
“Community security can only be understood within a context that involves ways of life, kinship relations, political organization, history, and recent transformations experienced by the communities,” analyzes the anthropologist. “The proximity to urban centers and the intensification of international drug trafficking routes, coupled with illegal mining and other illegal activities, mean that riverside indigenous leaders are now dealing with new conflicts,” she adds.
“The work of community security is, basically, taking care of the community.” This definition comes from Ailton Sampaio Pinto, a Ticuna man from the Tukuna Umariaçu Indigenous Land, in the Tabatinga region (AM). Recently graduated in Media Studies from Unicamp and a participant in Magüta since its creation, he closely followed the reorganization of indigenous community security groups.
Pinto, who lives on the tri-border area between Brazil, Peru, and Colombia, emphasizes that protecting means much more than just monitoring geographical boundaries. It also means living daily with challenges that extend beyond the limits of the communities. "There is human trafficking, organ trafficking, drugs entering the communities, deforestation, and various other problems," he reports.
Over the past two decades, initiatives such as the Indigenous Police of Alto Solimões (Piasol) and, later, the Indigenous Community Security groups (Segcum) have been active in some communities, carrying out monitoring, conflict mediation, and support for local leaders. Pinto explains that the current Segcum represents a revival of these experiences. "My father was the one who recreated community security."
According to the indigenous leader, meetings like the one promoted by Unicamp help to give visibility to the reality experienced by the communities. "It doesn't mean that all the problems will disappear, but we manage to draw the State's attention to a region that is very much forgotten."
Personal experiences
In the Magüta research and outreach program, developed since 2023 with the Ticuna communities of Umariaçu and Belém do Solimões, the connection with the residents was built gradually, through workshops held with indigenous youth, community leaders, students, and security agents, always starting from the construction of trust relationships. “The workshops allowed the communities to discuss not only where the violence happens, but also how it affects their bodies, their territories, and the rivers that are part of their daily lives,” says Durão.
The activities evolved into social cartography workshops, conducted in partnership with researchers from the State University of Amazonas (UEA). During the meetings, participants mapped different forms of violence in the territories, using maps, representations of the body, and even rivers to identify conflicts, vulnerabilities, and possible ways to address them.
The workshops also provided space to discuss aspects of daily life that, at first glance, seem distant from public safety. Elivany Macario Avelino, a Ticuna indigenous student at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urbanism (Fecfau) and a member of Magüta since 2025, led an activity on the transformations of housing in communities and their impacts on quality of life.
According to Avelino, the debate stemmed from a comparison between old houses, built with wood, straw, and natural fibers, and current masonry dwellings. “People want a beautiful and more modern house, but when it’s built, the living experience inside is very different. The houses get very hot, and many families can’t afford to install cooling equipment,” he reports.
During the workshop, residents shared memories of the houses where their parents and grandparents lived and reflected on how changes in architecture have also altered their sense of security and well-being. "Some people said that they don't feel safe inside their own homes, that they no longer have that peace that their grandparents talked about," she says.
For the student, discussing security also means thinking about the quality of the spaces where families live and how changes in housing influence the coexistence and health of communities. According to Avelino, this exchange of knowledge allows us to understand that different peoples face similar challenges, but also develop their own responses, capable of inspiring new ways to strengthen the protection of indigenous territories.
According to the aspiring architect, the international meeting precisely expands this possibility of building solutions collectively. "It's a space to look not only at what happens here, but also at other places. To learn about other experiences, exchange ideas, and think together about strategies that can then be applied back to the communities."
Agenda
August 13th – Thursday
9 am – Reception with Ticuna chants – By KaMagüta
9:40 – Opening session
Introductory Remarks: Indigenous Policing, Associations, and Knowledge Exchange
Speakers: Márcia Cristina Breitkreitz (Director of Extension at Proeec), Chantal Medaets (Professor at the Faculty of Education – FE), Susana Durão (Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and Human Sciences – IFCH), and Beatrice Jauregui (Professor at the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto, Canada)
10:00 AM – History of Indigenous Security in the Brazilian Triple Frontier
Speakers – Josiane Otaviano Guilherme (PhD candidate in Anthropology), Wellington Ponciano (coordinator of Indigenous Community Security in Umariacu II, Alto Solimões), Bernardino Almeida (vice-coordinator of Indigenous Community Security in Umariacu II, Alto Solimões)
Debater – Marco Tóbon (professor at FE); moderator – Karine Mendes (undergraduate student at the Institute of Language Studies – IEL)
13 PM – History of Indigenous Policing in Canada-USA, Turtle Island region
Speakers – Beatrice Jauregui (University of Toronto), Ranatiiostha Swamp (Chief of Police Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service) participating online, and Dwayne Zacharie (Chief of Police Kahnawà:ke Peacekeepers)
Debater and moderator – Fernando Simões (prosecutor for the State Public Ministry of São Paulo)
15:15 PM – Legal and Regulatory Limits and Possibilities for the Security of and by Indigenous Peoples in Brazil
Speakers – Roberto do Carmo (Elza Berquó Population Studies Center), Esteban Ospina Garrido (PhD candidate in Demography), and Walter Coutinho (Public Prosecutor) participating online.
Debater and moderator – José Mauricio Arruti (anthropologist)
August 14th
9 a.m. – Indigenous Security on the Borders: Differences and Continuities between North and South
Speakers – Marco Tóbon (professor at FE), Roksolyana Shlapak (University of Toronto)
Panelist – Bianca Laurenzano (PhD candidate, IFCH); Moderator – Andrews Mendes (Undergraduate student, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering – FEEC)
11:00 AM – Promising Experiences in Crime and Violence Prevention and Response in the Amazon and Mato Grosso do Sul and the Canadian Context
Speakers – Renato Sérgio de Lima (president of the Brazilian Forum on Public Security) and Nicholas A. Jones (professor at the University of Regina, Canada) participating online.
Discussant – Caroline Dias Hilgert (PhD candidate, IFCH); moderator – Aneida Carolina Yance (undergraduate student, IFCH)
14:30 PM – Reflections on Security and Violence on Latin American Borders
Speakers – Lucas Pilau (University of São Paulo – USP), Marcos Alvarez (coordinator of the INCT “Authoritarianism and Democracy” at the Center for Violence Studies, USP) and Sabina Frederic (professor at the University of Quilmes, Argentina, who was Argentina's Minister of Security between 2019-2021)
Debater and moderator – Susana Durão (IFCH)
17h - Closing
* Throughout the program, it will be possible to visit a photo exhibition entitled "Ticuna Life on the Border – Between social imagination and imminent dangers," curated by Ticuna indigenous students from Unicamp who work in the Magüta Program.
Cover photo:
