her glutenfree sweetie

spirals in my head.

Every time the state tried to silence Indigenous peoples in Brazil, the late Tuíre raised her voice

Tuíre Kayapó, one of the most important Indigenous leaders in Brazil, died on Saturday (10) at a hospital in the town of Redenção, in the state of Pará. She was 57 and battled uterine cancer. Her death ended an outstanding story of defending the rights of Indigenous and Amazonian peoples. From the disputes about the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant up to the legal argument known as “marco temporal” (usually translated into English as "Time Frame Law"), Tuíre has always taken a stance about government attacks against forest peoples.

Tuíre raised international attention in 1989. That year, the city of Altamira, Pará, was home to the First Meeting of Xingu Indigenous Peoples. The event, which gathered 600 Indigenous individuals all painted for war, aimed at discussing the Kararaô Hydroelectric Plant, later renamed Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant.

At a certain point, the then 19-year-old Tuíre put her machete on the face of the president of the Eletronorte company, José Antônio Muniz Lopes. According to her recollections of the episode in an interview with the Socio-environmental Institute (ISA, in Portuguese), Tuíre said to the man: “White man, you have no forest. This land isn’t yours. You were born in the city and came here to attack our forests and rivers. You won’t do this.”

The photograph of her action became known worldwide and drew the attention of authorities, activists and international artists, postponing the construction of the power plant for 20 years. After finished, Belo Monte was dubbed “the end of the world” among people in Volta Grande do Xingu. Tuíre was, in Aílton Krenak’s words, the woman who postponed the end of the world.