Crossborder indigenous mobility in the context of Venezuelan migration flow in Brazil. A Human Rights-Based Approach to the Pemon case
10.13125/americacritica/5914
Gli scontri tra alcune comunità indigene e l’esercito del Venezuela al confine con il Brasile hanno causato lo spostamento dei Pemon nei territori indigeni brasiliani, dove condividono legami etnici e familiari. Le soluzioni proposte finora dalle istituzioni non sono state sufficienti a prevenire lo sviluppo di violazioni dei diritti umani e, al contrario, spesso sono state una fonte di destabilizzazione interna. Ad oggi, è necessaria un’alternativa per il caso delle popolazioni indigene divise dalle frontiere nazionali, poiché è dovere dei governi rispettare la loro autonomia territoriale e promuovere lo sviluppo di un ambiente sicuro e prospero. Tuttavia, la legislazione che riguarda i gruppi indigeni transfrontalieri è ancora oggi poco chiara. Un approccio basato sui diritti umani può essere un punto di partenza, ma è di fondamentale importanza che i popoli indigeni siano in grado di coordinare un dialogo tra di loro, le organizzazioni internazionali e i governi nazionali.
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Crossborder indigenous mobility in the context of Venezuelan migration flow in Brazil. A Human Rights-Based Approach to the Pemon case
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Gabriele Grieco
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Crossborder indigenous mobility in the context of Venezuelan migration flow in Brazil. A Human Rights-Based Approach to the Pemon case
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                                                                                  doi: https://doi.org/10.13125/americacritica/5914




Crossborder indigenous mobility in the context of the
Venezuelan migration flow in Brazil. A Human Rights-
Based Approach to the Pemon case
Gabriele Grieco∗
∗ Università   di Siena, Italia
E-mail: gabrielegrieco94@gmail.com

Received: 04/09/2023. Accepted: 18/10/2023.

How to cite: Grieco, Gabriele. 2023. «Crossborder indigenous mobility in the context of Venezuelan migration flow in Brazil. A
Human Rights-Based Approach to the Pemon case». América Crítica 7 (1): 9-19. https://doi.org/10.13125/americacritica/5914


Abstract—Clashes between native communities and Venezuela’s Army on the border with Brazil have
caused a displacement of pemon in Brazilian indigenous territories where they share ethnic and family ties.
The solutions so far put forward by the institutions have not been sufficient to prevent the development of
human rights violations, and, on the contrary, have often been a source of internal destabilization. As of
today, an alternative to the case of indigenous peoples divided by national borders is needed, as it is the duty
of governments to respect their territorial autonomy and to foster the development of a safe and prosperous
environment. However, legislation affecting Cross-border indigenous groups is still unclear today. A human
rights-based approach can be a starting point but it is of paramount importance for indigenous people to be
empowered to coordinate a dialogue between themselves, international bodies and national governments. —
Non-Governmental organizations, Indigenous peoples, Borders, Migrants, Human rights.

Abstract—Gli scontri tra alcune comunità indigene e l’esercito del Venezuela al confine con il Brasile
hanno causato lo spostamento dei Pemon nei territori indigeni brasiliani, dove condividono legami etnici e
familiari. Le soluzioni proposte finora dalle istituzioni non sono state sufficienti a prevenire lo sviluppo di
violazioni dei diritti umani e, al contrario, spesso sono state una fonte di destabilizzazione interna. Ad oggi,
è necessaria un’alternativa per il caso delle popolazioni indigene divise dalle frontiere nazionali, poiché è
dovere dei governi rispettare la loro autonomia territoriale e promuovere lo sviluppo di un ambiente sicuro e
prospero. Tuttavia, la legislazione che riguarda i gruppi indigeni transfrontalieri è ancora oggi poco chiara.
Un approccio basato sui diritti umani può essere un punto di partenza, ma è di fondamentale importanza
che i popoli indigeni siano in grado di coordinare un dialogo tra di loro, le organizzazioni internazionali e i
governi nazionali. — Organizzazioni non-governative, Popoli indigeni, Frontiere, Migranti, Diritti umani.

I NTRODUCTION                                                    ception strategies, such as the interiorization of migrants
                                                                 and refugees, which allows for an organized and faster
      he last five years of the Venezuelan migration cri-
T      sis have put Brazil to the test. Despite this, the
Brazilian government has been able to take efficient mea-
                                                                 documentation process; however, national institutions
                                                                 and non-governmental organizations are still far from
                                                                 building lasting solutions to integration.
sures towards the migrant population as evidenced by the            This article will discuss the specific situation of a
logistical support of the army and the improvement of re-
10                                                                 América Crítica 7(1): 9–19, 2023. ISSN: 2532-6724

cross-border indigenous group, the indigenous Pemon             threats with regard to the Pemon. Although some help
people whose territories are divided by Brazil, the Boli-       has been provided, the institutions have not yet managed
varian Republic of Venezuela and Guyana (even though            to overcome several issues, therefore many challenges
for the purpose of the article Guyana will be excluded          are yet to be addressed. Ultimately, I will suggest a
from the discussion). According to the international            way for institutions to work together in an orderly way
treaties, indigenous people living divided by political         within a common ground to ensure a safe and prosperous
borders are protected by three sets of norms: Universal         environment.
rights, Migrant rights and Indigenous rights. Whether
migration is caused by conflict or not, pemon move from         F IELDWORK         AND    METHODOLOGICAL              AP -
one indigenous community to another according to their          PROACHES
cultural patterns (Andrello 1993; Thomas 1982; Rivière          This paper stems from fieldwork conducted in the ex-
1984; Butt Colson 1985), regardless of whether this leads        treme north of Roraima, precisely in the São Marcos
them to cross the Venezuelan or the Brazilian border. One        Indigenous territory at the frontier with Venezuela and
of the main challenges faced by Brazilian institutions in        the Pacaraima Mountains. Between September 2021 and
recent years has been assisting the unexpected mass mi-         June 2022, I spent time living with indigenous Taurepang
gration of Pemon from Venezuela, where they have been            communities, especially Sorocaima and Tarau Paru, fol-
victims of violent conflicts in their indigenous territories,    lowing through prior consultations with the community
thus abandoning the communities in Venezuela for longer          chiefs. I also made visits to Sakao Mota and Bananal
times.                                                           in Brazil and Maurak across the border into Venezuela.
    Forced to settle with their families within the limits of   While all these communities share ethnic and kinship ties,
Brazil, the sudden increase in population caused conflicts       some individuals in the Brazilian villages are displaced
over lack of resources. In light of this, Brazilian institu-     from the communities in Venezuela and have acquired
tions, national indigenous organizations and otherwise,          refugee status. As I later came to understand, the Tau-
consider these groups of people as migrants, even though         repang/Pemon Territories extends over and through the
they still live on their indigenous territory. The lack of       frontier, meaning that the ancestral land is divided by
legal recognition of the status of transfrontier indigenous      colonial and now national borders.
people and circular migration are the main challenges                Ethnography was employed as a field technique to pro-
for indigenous lands and peoples who live divided by            vide an in-depth, qualitative description of the observa-
borders (Giraldo 2011; Giraldo 2016; Mondardo 2021;              tions made through participation in everyday life, includ-
Gardner and Warren 2023). If not properly addressed              ing both sedentary activities and traveling between com-
this could generate conflicts and inequalities.                  munities. Although I interviewed people who claimed
    The migration crisis in northern Brazil has led the gov-     to be native of one community over the other, narrating
ernment and humanitarian organizations to work together          the travels of their common ancestor as the myth of their
to respond efficiently and in a coordinated manner to the        specific attachment to that community or the other, I also
humanitarian crisis that has led millions of Venezuelans         participated in travels both by car and on foot with some
to leave their country. Seeking possible solutions to in-        people who were born outside and are now considered
tegration, the protection of human rights is the common          part of that community after the acceptance of their rela-
goal.                                                            tives, friends, or even individuals with whom they share
The migration of cross-border indigenous people brought          distant kin relations. From these two perspectives, I ob-
to attention the need to discuss their situation after a ma-     served mainly two important issues:
jor crisis affected them in their territory in Venezuela and    -First, the “Natives” of a community recount the history
has pushed them to move to Brazil in the same indige-            of their common blood kin, emphasizing the travel of the
nous territory but on a different national soil.                 first person who came to stabilize in that specific piece
    First, I will explain who they are and what defines          of land and built a new village, while the “outsiders”
indigenous transboundaries groups. Secondly, I will dis-         privilege the mobile character as a cultural dimension to
cuss some examples of humanitarian assistance to the             explain their mobility.
Pemon population and to what extent the Brazilian gov-          -Second, these two perspectives can be seen as the result
ernment and the United Nations are trying to address the         of a diplomatic encounter between two or more people
indigenous migration. Based on my experience in the              from different communities who are trying to find a com-
field, legal obstacles could lead to possible human rights       mon ground to establish their cultural and kin ties over
Grieco, Crossborder indigenous mobility                                                                                       11

and despite the national borders.                              the national and international legal frameworks pertain-
    The result of these observations lead me to establish      ing to indigenous peoples, with a particular focus on the
that for the Pemon the borders are not just and only places    migration of indigenous groups. The upcoming chapters
of disciplinary practices and violence but also as what        will elucidate the criteria delineating indigenous cross-
Gardner and Warren (2023) recalls: “spaces of creative         border people under international laws. This stands in
production. . . leading to a new costellation of practices,    stark contrast to the anthropological perspective.
alliances and knowledges”. This, in turn:
                                                               T HEHARBINGERS OF THE                   V ENEZUELAN M I -
     Reveal the complex processes cross-border Indige-         GRATION C RISIS
     nous communities engage in or are subjected to.
     These include both trans-border solidarity as well        The Venezuelan crisis can be and has been described as
     as fragmentation, pushing forth a rethinking of the       a multidimensional one (Bull and Rosales 2020). While
     nation-state. This points to the challenges anyone        scholars and analysts exhibit some divergence regarding
     faces when attempting to define Indigenous people         the root causes, primarily debating between the disrup-
     by traits, such as their historic mobility across bor-    tive influence of external actors and the mismanagement
     ders or their urban or rural locations of residence.
                                                               by the autocratic government, the predominant perspec-
     These traits have been used by nation-states, in an
     ethno-normative disposition, to define, contain and       tives consistently emphasize the economic and political
     manage ‘their’ Indigenous populations (Gardner            factors that precipitated the nation’s collapse.
     and Warren 2023).                                             Politically, the unraveling of Venezuela commenced
                                                               with a gradual shift from democracy to a hybrid regime
For example, Before seeking refuge in Sorocaima, F.            under Chávez in the early 2000s. This transition culmi-
sporadically visited his father, but frequent recipro-         nated in a full-fledged autocracy following the 2013 presi-
cal visits between the two communities (Kumarakapay            dential election of Maduro after Chávez’s death (Bull and
in Venezuela and Sorocaima in Brazil) were made to             Rosales 2020). Both leaders, affiliated with the PSUV
strengthen relationships beyond borders. Religious vis-        party1 , incrementally centralized power, exerting control
its or even work periods connected the two settlements:        over vital institutions such as the Judiciary, Electoral bod-
“Formerly, they visited between villages to not forget         ies, and the Supreme Court, eroding checks and balances
indigenous culture,” or “We have never been migrants;          systems in the process.
my grandparents came here.” These phrases are often re-            On a different front, Venezuela grapples with an “in-
peated by people who recently settled in Brazil following      flammable economy” (Morillo Ramos and Roekel 2022).
the conflict. Even Sorocaima residents tell stories of jour-   This term encapsulates the nation’s heavy reliance on oil
neys on foot to San Francisco de Yuruani and Parai-tepui.      production and exports, rendering it highly susceptible to
    Relationships between settlements mainly occur             global price fluctuations. Shortly after Maduro’s election,
through kinship logics, contributing to and determining        a collapse in global oil prices triggered a recession in
the Taurepang’s pathways as well as the logic of the set-      the country2 , leading to widespread inflation and food
tlements (their proximity). The circulation of families        shortages – a predicament that had been oscillating since
across borders is not a new phenomenon: “Despite the           Chávez era.
emergency context in which these moves took place, the             Despite the prevalent mismanagement and corrup-
Taurepang on the Brazilian side’s acceptance of the Pe-        tion in the country, approximately “half the Venezuelan
mon continues along the lines of kinship memories and          economy’s contraction since 2012 can be attributed to
religion” (Moreira and Torelly 2020: 59). The emer-            US.-led sanctions” (Rodríguez 2023). This economic
gency that arose was partially absorbed through kinship        coercion strategy reached its zenith during the Trump
relations in the communities where they were welcomed;         administration, which curtailed Venezuela’s access to
however, internal divisions resulting from new forms of        oil markets and shifted control of the government’s for-
coexistence have contributed to suspicions, accusations,       eign assets to the opposition in 2019 (Rodríguez 2023).
and conflicts. Migration and migratory circulation are         These sanctions hindered the country’s full participation
vital processes for the Taurepang, challenging forms of        in the oil market, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in
integration and assimilation into national society.
                                                               1 Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (The United Socialist Party
    During a subsequent phase, I delved into legal re-         of Venezuela). Left-wing political party created by Chávez in 2007.
search, opting for a human rights-based approach to ad-        2 See Vanessa Buschschlüter, Venezuela Crisis in brief, 4 January
dress the issue at hand. Consequently, I scrutinized both      2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48121148
12                                                                            América Crítica 7(1): 9–19, 2023. ISSN: 2532-6724

Venezuela and prompting a massive migration of its pop-                    policies which the State should provide to fulfill its role
ulation. This migration, fueled by diseases, high crime                    in the guarantee of Human Rights” (Almeida Medeiros
rates, starvation, and inflation, saw nearly 8 million peo-                and Belarmino 2022), thus making a long-term solution
ple leaving Venezuela for other Latin American countries.                  to contemporary migration possible. An aspect which
Among these, Brazil welcomed 477.0003 Venezuelans,                         profoundly differentiates the policies of the South Ameri-
offering them refugee status, asylum, or authorization for                 can country from others in Europe or Africa. The former
residence.                                                                 due to a lack of political coordination and a securitarian
                                                                           approach, the latter due to weak State structures.
B RAZILIAN RECEPTION OF MIGRANTS
                                                                           Migration patterns
In 2018, the Brazilian Federal Government launched
an organized humanitarian response to the Venezuelan                       Venezuela is today recognized as one of the most affected
migration crisis known as “Operação Acolhida” 4 . In-                      countries by emigration due to its socio-economic crisis
volving the participation of several agencies – among                      that peaked after the collapse of the petrol-State econ-
them the UNHCR and the IOM – this gigantic operation                       omy and the sanctions imposed by the United States of
developed several actions to shelter vulnerable Venezue-                   America (Rodríguez 2023). Approximately a third of the
lan population in emergency facilities and quicken docu-                   Venezuelan population is outside the country and among
mentation processes. But the most effective action was                     them there are indigenous people, mainly Warao, Eñepa
undertaken through the interiorization strategy5 , whereby                 and Pemon10 . The latter, whose territories are splitted
Brazilian Federal Government coordinated the humani-                       by national borders, have always been on the move be-
tarian response, evidencing the effectiveness of an orga-                  tween the countries, like several other indigenous groups
nized dialogue between municipalities and the States of                    in Latin America and Venezuela (Giraldo 2011; Giraldo
the Union. The center of this operation was Pacaraima, a                   2016).
frontier city on indigenous land (not recognized as such)                      Pemon natives, also called Taurepang in Brazil, have
where Venezuelan migrants were crossing the border.                        been equally affected by the crisis in Venezuela, so they
    According to the UNHCR seven hundred thousand                          have moved to Brazil and settled there in the communi-
people entered Brazil from Venezuela, and half of them                     ties belonging to their ethnic group and families. Some
are still on the Brazilian soil6 . With the implementa-                    of them suffered a confront with the Venezuelan Army in
tion of the Brazilian migration law7 , which follows the                   february 2019, during which State forces entered indige-
CONARE regulation8 , this vast intergovernmental oper-                     nous communities in Venezuela by shooting and prevent-
ation allows Venezuelan migrants to obtain temporary                       ing international aid coming from the nearby Brazil11 .
permits and apply for asylum and refugee status9 . All this                In fact, Pemon leaders welcomed humanitarian aid by
measures are internationally recognized as an example                      claiming their right to do so advancing their territorial
of an effective interagencial and human-rights oriented                    rights (Ramìrez 2019). This triggered a humanitarian
coordination; in fact Brazilian approach to migration                      and political crisis that resonated internationally due to
“represents a great advance in relation to the recognition                 geopolitical causes involved, but also because it brought
and treatment of migration and the framework of public                     attention to their status as transfrontier indigenous mi-
                                                                           grants.
3 See Country Analysis Brazil (http://tinyurl.com/y4hdvhth).                   The Pemon communities in Southern Venezuela find
4 “Shelter operation” is the Humanitarian response coordinated by          themselves deeply ensnared in the intricate web of the
the Brazilian Federal Government, still active today.
                                                                           political and economic crisis. Their territories and liveli-
5 The Interiorization strategy is an effective operation of reallocation
of people to other municipalities of Brazil through local socioeco-        hoods are not only impacted by the overarching national
nomic integration. This successful operation served first to empty         crisis but are also subject to exploitation by companies
emergencial shelters for other people while integrate the ones who         seeking to capitalize on the mineral wealth in the region.
were reallocated to other states throughout Brazil. See ACNUR
Brasil, Antes e depois da operação acolhida: uma análise à luz do          10 According to the UNHCR Warao constitute roughly 70% of the
deslocamento forçado no Brasil (2017-2022), 2022.                          indigenous migrants in Brazil, while the Pemon are the 24% and the
6 Following UNHCR reports, the number of venezuelan migrants are           Enepa 3%.
stable today, after a sudden increase during the COVID-19 pandemic.        11 Residing along the Brazilian border, these communities became
7 Lei Nº 13.445, de 24 de maio de 2017.                                    entangled in a national conflict pitting the government against the
8 Comitê Nacional para os Refugiados – CONARE.                             opposition led by Juan Guaido. The latter pledged to deliver essen-
9 Through the Technical Note n. 3/2019/CONARE, Conare decided              tial supplies such as food and medicine, responding to the severe
to grant all venezuelans refugee status, thus simplyfing the procedure.    hyperinflation plaguing the Venezuelan population.
Grieco, Crossborder indigenous mobility                                                                                                        13

This exploitation, sanctioned by the Maduro government,                  Definition of Cross-border Indigenous Groups
is facilitated by both state-owned enterprises and illicit
                                                                         Although not fully binding the UN Declaration on In-
mining operations. In essence:
                                                                         digenous Peoples Rights has been a reference for Brazil
                                                                         as well as for other former colonies. As stated by this
      In 2016, as the oil industry declined and he scram-                international document:
      bled to boost state income, Venezuela’s President
                                                                               Indigenous peoples, in particular those divided by
      Nicolás Maduro created the Orinoco Mining Arc,
                                                                               international borders, have the right to maintain
      dedicating an area larger than Cuba for industrial-
                                                                               and develop contacts, relations and cooperation,
      scale mining. In Venezuela’s Gran Sabana region.
                                                                               including activities for spiritual, cultural, political,
      Like many other mines on Indigenous lands, it ex-
                                                                               economic and social purposes, with their own mem-
      isted prior to the creation of the mining arc but has
                                                                               bers as well as other peoples across borders14 .
      expanded in recent years due to rising gold prices,
      lack of opportunity elsewhere in the country and                   Thus, Pemon are entitled to cross the border between
      limited law enforcement12 .                                        Venezuela and Brazil.
                                                                             “We’ve never been migrants”, a woman from an in-
The confront between the Pemon communities in the                        digenous Pemon community in Brazil declared me; in
Gran Sabana Region with the military forces can be seen                  fact, Pemon have always moved along indigenous paths
in fact as the culmination of their disagreement with the                from ancient routes that runs across frontiers15 . They
government over land resources, management and au-                       often move to visit relatives, for religious reasons or
thority.                                                                 just to find fertiler lands where they can cultivate and
    Furthermore, to reignite tensions, a referendum or-                  harvest manioc (cassava) and banana (Andrello 1993;
chestrated by Nicolas Maduro’s government summoned                       Thomas 1982). The landscape that crosses the countries
the population to the polls at the outset of December                    is perceived by indigenous people in close relation to
2023. Demonstrating an enduring commitment to ex-                        genealogical ties, so much that territoriality and space
ploring new areas for oil and mineral wealth, Maduro’s                   are structured through kin patterns and therefore acquire
referendum delved into an age-old conflict over land with                social and historical significance (Gow 1995). To this
Guyana. This time, it invoked claims of sovereignty                      extent their migration is of a circular type, this means that
over two-thirds of the border country, specifically a vast,              they would often leave their place of birth to travel and
densely forested region rich in resources known as Esse-                 work elsewhere but only to go back and forth from these
quibo. The socialist party contends that this area right-                places across Brazil and Venezuela. Therefore, what re-
fully belongs to Venezuela since the colonial division                   ally matters is not the local place of birth but the entire
of the Caribbean Coast, arguing that it was erroneously                  territory in which they move. In this sense we could also
ceded to British Guyana in 1899.                                         say that instead of a genealogical tree, as is commonly
    While the referendum has been a success for                          figured in Western explanation of kinship, they would
Maduro’s claim of sovereignity over the disputed land,                   have a rhizomatic figure used as a metaphor for kinship16 .
the International Court of Justice has already ruled in                  Circular migration thus means a condition of continuous
favor of Guyana (Van den Berg and Sequera 2023).                         mobility understood not as migration but as movement,
    However, the unsettling prospect of annexation has                   which is at the heart of the cultural dimension of the
ignited fresh concerns among bordering nations and the                   native people who perceive the territory not only as a
communities residing in those territories. For instance,                 physical resource, but rather as a social landscape, called
the Pemon people, situated at the triple frontier, now face              Upa’ta in the language of these groups.
increased vulnerability to the potential threat of armed                     Once this view is integrated – at least partially – in
conflict between the two countries and the unsettling pos-               legal understanding, legislative measures were taken to
sibility of once again being displaced from their ancestral
                                                                         14 Article 36, UN Declaration on indigenous peoples’ rights.
lands13 .                                                                15 These indigenous paths are often used as “trechos” by non-
                                                                         indigenous to cross the border illegally. For the Pemon these routes
                                                                         bear historical and cultural significance as they tie more or less distant
12 See Hoejris Dahl, Brazilian gold miners get free rein in              communities by kinship. The amount of all this net of paths it’s what
Venezuela’s Indigenous lands, 11 April, 2023. https://n9.cl/f5g0v.       they call Upa’ta (Pemon word for world/home).
13 Brazil has been watching with concern the recent developments of      16 The rhizome is often useful to think about indigenous peoples,
the situation thus decided to strengthen its military presence sending   especially those who move constantly on a territory, as it extends and
a warning to the countries. See: https://n9.cl/yhk85u                    expands itself instead of evolving from a root.
14                                                                  América Crítica 7(1): 9–19, 2023. ISSN: 2532-6724

ensure that they could reproduce their cultural ways of         into Brazil because they lack legally recognized settle-
life. This is regulated by the ILO Convention n.169,            ments and available land to build their houses. They are
which legally binds Brazil, who has incorporated this           typically placed in facilities designed to accommodate
international instrument into its domestic law:                 the migrating indigenous population.
     Governments shall take appropriate measures, in-
     cluding by means of international agreements, to           I NSTITUTIONAL             RESPONSE TO THE                 P EMON
     facilitate contacts and co-operation between indige-       C RISIS
     nous and tribal peoples across borders, including
     activities in the economic, social, cultural, spiritual    Between February and March 2019, approximately 1200
     and environmental fields17 .                               Pemon crossed the border into Brazil’s indigenous com-
                                                                munities due to the conflict in Venezuela (Burks 2019);
Although there are definitions of indigenous people di-         almost all of them went into Tarau Paru in search of
vided by borders on international and national legisla-         refuge18 . However, the situation had put Tarau Paru in a
tions, they seem to be rather blurred. In Brazil, the Pe-       difficult situation as resources began to run out due to de-
mon are allowed to freely traverse their territories, yet       mographic expansion, while internal conflicts increased.
there is a lack of commitment to empowering indigenous          Thus, the “interiorization” strategy for indigenous people
communities to effectively communicate and respond to           was implemented reallocating them into neighbouring
significant crises when their lands are impacted.               indigenous communities. The empowerment of local
    There are similar examples in anthropological litera-       communities to assist relatives and people of the same
ture. The Wayúu, for instance, move between different           ethnic group was the goal of such operation, though na-
nations, in this case, between Colombia and Venezuela,          tional indigenous institutions had a weak response to the
dealing with a force that crosses their territory. However,     crisis.
“the Wayúu’s view of territorial mobility surpasses the
limits of the border” (Giraldo 2011: 61), questioning           Governmental aid
the perspective of State administrations and reinvent-
ing themselves by creating networks and relationships           While the Shelter Operation led to the resettlement of
beyond physical and social distances. Similarly, when           the indigenous Pemon migrants, the national indigenous
we talk about indigenous people and borders in Latin            institutions were still far from providing them with as-
America, perhaps one of the most well-known cases of            sistance. As indigenous people, they turned to national
indigenous people living between the borders of two or          indigenous institutions, such as FUNAI, responsible for
more countries is the Mapuche case. Like the Taurepang          basic civil documentation for indigenous people and ac-
I lived with who speak of “Upa’ta”, the Mapuche use             cess to social assistance. Through the documentation,
the term “Wallmapu” to identify a territory beyond the          the indigenous people would have access to the national
Chilean and Argentinean borders (Giraldo 2011).                 indigenous health system provided by the SESAI, but
    On the other hand, the Warao of Venezuela are in-           were not recognised as indigenous citizens; in fact, Fu-
digenous groups whose pendularity between neighboring           nai original purpose was to register indigenous people
countries has developed recently. Therefore, kinship re-        coming from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, but
lations, even when occurring between separate social            halted the process before the documents were issued19 .
actors in different nations, are still fragile and not widely       With regard to migrants, the Brazilian government has
recognized, as they involve generations born in the coun-       put in place documentation processes that issue residence
tries of origin. However, the network of individuals that       permits or refugee status, as in the case of other citizens,
has dispersed in Brazilian territories in recent years main-    according to the act regulating internal migration legis-
tains relationships with group members still in Venezuela,      lation. Although for the emergency, the procedures for
validating Article 32 of ILO Convention No. 169, en-            indigenous migrants include the granting of “Humani-
suring the Warao’s right to maintain their relationships        tarian migrant” status to ease bureaucratic hurdles; but
that refers to groups of people residing near border ar-
eas, divided into different national territories but united
                                                                18 Due to its geographical proximity to the bolivarian republic of
by kinship relations. From a practical perspective, the         Venezuela and no customs at all since it is indigenous territory it was
Warao face critical conditions when crossing the border         easy for migrants to reach out Tarau Paru.
                                                                19 See The UN Migration Agency, Legal Aspects of assisting
17 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, art.32, 1989.      Venezuelan migrants in Brazil.
Grieco, Crossborder indigenous mobility                                                                                     15

that is yet to be discussed20 . However, this process was        those in vulnerable situations. Before the crisis they trav-
carried out with the endorsement of local indigenous             elled across the border without the need for documents,
authorities, who were often left alone to register undocu-       but due to the conflict they asked to settle in a safer envi-
mented persons and decide whether someone was more               ronment and have access to basic resources and this was
or less eligible.                                                only possible in their indigenous land in Brazil, where
                                                                 they share genealogical ties. The registration was carried
Non-governmental and Interagencial aid                           through local indigenous authorities of the community
The IOM, ACNUR, ADRA and USAID brought into                      where they were settling, and this had given chiefs power
communities resources and assistance. A first analysis           to decide whether somebody is more or less eligible to
was carried out to meet the basic needs and provide mi-          access State’s resources withouth any structure preposed
grants with food, blankets and materials of daily use.           to capacitating them to do that as well as for the proce-
Others have already started working with local author-           dure to be controlled by external and neutral institutions;
ities to find long-term solutions. We could divide the           kin relationships and religion were the only criteria. This
assistance into two different types: short-term, dedicated       allowed conflicts to arise, the foundation of which was
to sudden emergencies; long-term for the empowerment             built in the name of pressures for land and natural re-
of locals and the integration of people. The significant         sources, which is common when different families come
demographic expansion experienced by the local commu-            together to divide and manage lands.
nities led OIM, with PRM funding (The Bureau of Popu-                NGOs were doing the work of the state, providing
lation, Refugees and Migration) to initiate another type         assistance to indigenous migrants and empowering them.
of assistance through long-term needs-based solutions.           But sustainable projects were also causing internal con-
The aim was to help local communities who received               flicts. In fact, the sudden interest of various institutions in
migrants to strenghten the socio-economic integration of         providing humanitarian assistance to migrants triggered
the communities as a whole:                                      the anger of the locals, who had been abandoned or left
                                                                 with assistentialistic politics until then, and who were
     After rounds of conversations, alignments, pre-
                                                                 helping now to receive migrants from the same ethnic
     existing knowledge of community members, IOM
     began planning for socioeconomic integration.               group. The lack of cultural knowledge made difficult
     Over the course of a year, conversations were held          to manage registration processes and resources. For in-
     with indigenous leaders to understand the commu-            stance, the Pemon were always organized at the nuclear
     nities’ main demands for inclusion in the job mar-          level, i.e. at family level. The sustainable projects were
     ket21 .                                                     designed to help the whole community and they suddenly
In Sorocaima, one of the main pemon communities in               had to divide the work between families to achieve col-
Brazil, by 2021, with agricultural technics consults, they       lective results. The result was mismanagement, because
had already started to generate income through an agri-          it was not their way of socially organized work.
cultural plan that involved the construction of chicken              Another challenge to mention for the locals is the
coops, vegetable gardens and fish tanks. In order to fol-        lack of financial capacitation. They were left alone with
low sustainable development every agricultural project           sources of income without any knowledge of how to
had to follow familiar management.                               channel or invest them. How can these problems be ad-
                                                                 dressed and overcome, and to what extent have national
Principal challenges for transnational indigenous mi-            and international institutions been responsible?
grants
First, registration and documentation processes have be-
gun to divide natives into residents and migrants. Access        I NTERNATIONAL  INSTRUCTIONS                     AND      NA -
to the national indigenous health system would be a prob-        TIONAL BODIES DUTIES
lem without documents, and it goes without saying that
documents would allow better access to State’s resources,
as well as tracking and monitoring people, especially            Brazil worked towards inclusive policies respecting Hu-
                                                                 man rights and UN legal instructions, among those there
20 See The UN Migration Agency, Legal Aspects of assisting
Venezuelan migrants in Brazil.
                                                                 are binding treaties such as the Universal Declaration on
21 OIM, Indígenas em Pacaraima geram renda e ampliam sua inte-   Human Rights, the UN and OAS Declarations on Indige-
gração socioeconômica com apoio da OIM, December 21, 2021.       nous People Rights and the International Covenant on
16                                                                    América Crítica 7(1): 9–19, 2023. ISSN: 2532-6724

Civil and Political Rights22 . But the situation of Pemon          indigenous crossborder peoples and at the same time re-
evidenced the need to clarify their transnational status           specting national sovereignity ? The situation of Pemon
which does not threatens sovereignty of national territo-          peoples highlighted the need to think about long-term
ries (Moreira and Torelly 2020: 89). In 2016 OAS ap-               solution and better inter-agencies coordination when it
proved the American Declaration on Indigenous Peoples              comes to understand transnational indigenous identities.
rights which in turn was followed by Brazilian govern-             According to my fieldnotes, the Pemon migrate circu-
ment. This international instrument applies to indigenous          larly through a large territory who is recognised of their
migrants as well but not to cross-border indigenous peo-           pertainance, but whose boundaries are demarcated by
ple even though in some respect States are obliged to              Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. In the case of Brazil and
ensure and respect ties on indigenous lands divided by             Venezuela there are more kinship ties between communi-
borders while creating suitable policies in regards their          ties, in fact if we mapped the territory we could trace a
self-determination23 .                                             long and intricate system of relationships between settled
    The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 integrated an in-           communities. States are obliged to find a way to imple-
clusive vision on indigenous rights24 , recognizing their          ment human rights-based approach, as it is their duty to
right to self-determination and the development of their           respect and facilitate coordination across borders and the
own institutions but always in conformity with national            right of natives to mantain their kinship relations. In that
and international legal framework (Fernandez Liesa 2018:           case:
23–30). Like other Latin American States, Brazil ratified               human rights law obliges governments (principally)
the ILO Convention that integrates the multiethnic char-                and other duty-bearers to do certain things and
acter of its national configuration, but has not admitted               prevents them from doing others. to refrain from
different legal system within its territorial boundaries                any action that may serve to discriminate against a
(RangelGonzález 2018: 48–59). However, governments                      group of individuals in the exercise of their rights
are obliged to fully respect ethnic ties of peoples divided             on grounds of race, colour, sex, language, political
                                                                        or other opinion, national or social origin, property,
by borders as well as to foster the coordination between
                                                                        birth or other status25 .
them. In addition to the blurred legislations, the lack of
access to basic documentation is a major obstacle when             Pemon circular mobility isn’t recognised as such by na-
it comes to their status. Nevertheless, issuing second             tional bodies; nevertheless as latin american countries are
citizenship to all those Venezuelan Pemon would lead to            shaping their policies towards the integration of indige-
conflict of interests among families and legal violations,         nous institutions and respect for human rights not only
since they could enjoy State’s benefits while staying on           on the basis of western concepts of universal fundamen-
a territory belonging to another country. This situation           tal rights, but on a community-rooted vision, attention
escape contemporary legal knowledge. How, then, to rec-            is called for other concept of living, such as the Pemon
ognize transnational citizenship while respecting human            circular movements, which is their socially organized
rights? There may be another way.                                  way of living.
                                                                       It is crucial to focus not merely on the Pemon people’s
Human Rights-Based Approach to Indigenous transna-                 mobility, but rather on their perception of the territory
tional groups                                                      as an existential dimension. Their understanding goes
                                                                   beyond a superficial consideration of the land based on
Crossborder natives are neither migrants nor stateless.
                                                                   its usage and travels across villages. The Pemon view the
They Are citizens of one nation or another, sometimes
                                                                   land in alignment with kinship patterns, and this social
of more than one nation. But neither are they what we
                                                                   cartography imparts profound significance to the land-
might call binationals. They are first and foremost cit-
                                                                   scape. In essence, they don’t merely inhabit the land;
izens of autonomous indigenous institutions that cross
                                                                   they are the land (De la Cadena 2010). This concept
borders, but subject to national frameworks in which they
                                                                   diverges from the definitions of territory as identified in
have the right to be national citizen. So how should this
                                                                   national Constitutions: namely, a space divided into areas,
puzzled situation be handled, promoting human rights of
                                                                   25 See Gender, Human Rights and Culture Branch of the UNFPA
22 See The UN Migration Agency, Legal Aspects of assisting         Technical Division (GHRCB) and the Program on International
Venezuelan migrants in Brazil, (Yamada and Torelly 2019: 84–89).   Health and Human Rights, Harvard School of Public, United Nations
23 See The UN Migration Agency, Legal aspects of assisting         Population Fund A Human Rights–Based Approach to Programming
venezuelan indigenous migrants in Brazil, (: 84–89).               Practical Implementation Manual and Training Materials, (Public
24 Art. n. 231 of the Federal Constitution, 1988.                  Health, Gender, and UNFPA Technical Division. 2010: 35).
Grieco, Crossborder indigenous mobility                                                                               17

fragmented into lands assigned to a community of indi-              Since they share transnational ties, a supranational
viduals who possess the right of use. In contrast to this       organization composed of an indigenous council of cross-
fragmentation and separation, the Upa’ta is a fluid, mov-       border people should create the condition for a fair pro-
ing world where boundaries do not exist. De la Cadena           cess, “the term transnational movement organizations
(2015) observes that the customary distinctions between         suggests a collective actor that is present in more than
humans and nature define a group inhabiting a territory         one country” (Fox 2005: 179). The creation of such
– a place – to which they are connected through ritual,         an institutionally recognized network would develop a
economic, and political relations. The concept, drawn           neutral discussion of the situation and better articulate
from an Amerindian collaborator, Justo Oxa, aims to de-         relations between all stakeholders, preventing internal
construct the idea that a place is “inhabited,” replacing it    conflicts while mediating relations.
with the notion that the entities forming it are like threads       The importance of indigenous crossborder move-
in a fabric. In other words, they are interconnected be-        ments and organizations at the crossroads of different
cause one cannot exist without the other; they emerge           paths for economic and social struggles lies in their
as a relation and can come to life only through this rela-      transnational capacity to raise issues, such as the Pemon
tional dimension, “persons are not from a place; they are       struggle for their recognition, whose case would help
the place that relationally emerges through them” (: 101–       shape the international and national legal framework to-
102), a transcendent dimension that imparts meaning to          wards inclusive cosmopolitan views (Rodrigues-Garavito
our existence.                                                  and Arenas 2005: 243) while strengthening local indige-
                                                                nous institutions through democratic participation and
                                                                coordination between agencies and other authorities.
T OWARDS TRANSNATIONAL REGULAMENTA -
TIONS FOR CROSSBORDER INDIGENOUS PEO -
                                                                C ONCLUSION
PLE
                                                                The challenges brought by the sudden crisis and the large
Brazil is one of the most culturally diverse countries in       migration of Pemon communities have highlighted the
Latin America, yet different cultural ways of living are        legal obstacles that prevent institutions from following
respected but not integrated on a legal pluralism level.        and respecting human rights guidelines. Their situation
The relationship between indigenous societies and the           evidenced the need to think of a new framework for in-
legislation of the countries is discussed every year by         digenous living on the border of two or more nations,
an important body of the ECOSOC (The United Nation              especially when these States are political antagonists. A
Economic and Social Council), the United Nations Per-           starting point could be the ability of the local inhabi-
manent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), where               tants to build a dialogue between institutions at munici-
the full implementation and promotion of indigenous             pal, national and federal levels. But such a figure, who
peoples’ rights is constantly examined. An in-depth dis-        would take charge and represent Indigenous rights, must
cussion on indigenous transnational identities should be        be a transnational, community-based institution whose
highlighted with examples to better coordinate and pro-         neutrality would serve to level distinctions and internal
mote cultural revitalization of those territorial identities    conflicts as well as to coordinate relations between in-
and to articulate relationships across borders. The net-        digenous communities divided by national frontiers. It
work of indigenous peoples crossing borders is a flow of        would be a transnational organization of cross-border in-
people constantly moving for cultural reasons, embed-           digenous people, recognized by international institutions
ded in their existential and relational dimensions. The         in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous People, dealing
Pemon, like other indigenous groups in Latin America            with the relations between the local authorities of the
(Giraldo 2011; Giraldo 2016) have the right to maintain         communities, structuring dialogue within them and the
their relations without respecting the borders. However,        national institutions and eventually the legal framework
if two neighboring countries do not cooperate for their         of their concern.
well-being, some groups may find themselves in a hostile            The official narrative pertaining to the indigenous
situation and be prevented from exercising their rights.        Pemon territory as a legal and political entity has nor-
In the Pemon case, Venezuelan indigenous groups that            malized a specific sense of place, thereby shaping the
crossed the border had to be registered for integration,        legal framework applicable to indigenous communities
but the process, as already pointed out, wasn’t entirely        transcending borders. Consequently, it is unsurprising
clear and fair.                                                 that prevailing policies and laws predominantly address
18                                                                América Crítica 7(1): 9–19, 2023. ISSN: 2532-6724

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