During the early 1500s, after becoming the second indigenous nation to come into contact with Portuguese colonists in Bahia, the Xukuru split into two groups. One group fled to Minas Gerais, while the other crossed the semi-arid northeastern backcountry to the the Ororubá mountains—a low range of 3,000-foot peaks, around 220 kilometers inland from Recife.

Portuguese settlers arrived on the land below in the 1600s. For the next 400 years, they engaged in trade with the Xukuru as they gradually encroached onto their land. This changed in 1989, when an area of roughly 4,000 hectares was designated as a reserve for the Xukuru. Led by a charismatic leader named Chief Chicão, who used a return to traditional religion and culture to galvanize his people, they pressured the federal government to expand the reserve. In 1995, the reserve was increased to 27,550 hectares, and a long process of reclaiming land that had been stolen by ranchers began. In 1998, Chicão was assassinated by local elites, and his 21-year-old son, Marcos, became the new chief. In 2001, the land was fully reclaimed by the Xukuru.

In 2020, Chief Marcos was elected Mayor of Pesqueira but, due to a legal maneuver by local elites, was immediately removed from office based on trumped-up charges that he had ordered the burning of a federal government indigenous affairs department vehicle during a riot in the early 2000s. Months later, he was ruled innocent. For the next 3.5 years, he served as town Planning Commissioner. Then he was elected Mayor for the second time in a row in October, 2024. He’s now been in office for nearly five months, and allies of the far-right Bolsonaro family have started new, dirty legal tricks to remove him from office.

In this context, the theme of the 25th annual Xukuru Assembly, which took place from May 16–20, was: “From a violated past to a criminalized present: We will resist!”

I covered the Assembly for TeleSUR English’s news program, From the South. The following is my subtitled story of the closing event of the Assembly—a march from the hills down into the town of Pesqueira, to the location of Chief Chicão’s assassination, held every year on the anniversary of his death. This year, more than a traditional memorial march, it was a show of political force from Chief/Mayor Marcos and the Xukuru nation, who make up about one-third of the municipality’s electorate.

The two interviewees who appear in this story are, 1) Chicão Neto - Xukuru Youth Leader, grandson of Chief Chicão/nephew of Chief Marcos; and 2) Cercilio Xukuru - Cana Brava Village Leader.