The Senate approved on Tuesday (9) the PEC instituting the marco temporal for indigenous land demarcation, limiting rights to occupations up to October 5, 1988, contradicting the STF's 2023 ruling. The proposal, reported by Esperidião Amin (PP-SC), now heads to the Chamber of Deputies after accelerated voting in two rounds on the same day. The measure aims for legal security but is criticized by indigenous peoples and opponents for ignoring expulsions and nomadic groups.
The Brazilian Senate approved on December 9, 2025, the Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) incorporating the marco temporal into the Constitution, restricting indigenous land demarcations to areas occupied or disputed until the Constitution's promulgation on October 5, 1988. The approval took place in two rounds on the same day, following a special calendar proposed by Senator Tereza Cristina (PP-MS) and passed 48-21. In the first round, it received 52 yes votes, 14 no, and one abstention; in the second, 52 yes, 15 no, and one abstention.
Relator Senator Esperidião Amin (PP-SC) presented a substitute expanding reservations on demarcations, ensuring prior indemnification for regular occupants, and banning territory expansions beyond already demarcated areas. The text also mandates participation of municipalities, states, and rural owners in the demarcation process, currently handled by Funai based on anthropological studies.
The marco temporal thesis emerged in 2009 from an AGU opinion on the Raposa Serra do Sol reserve in Roraima. In 2023, the STF ruled its application unconstitutional, but Congress passed PL 2.903/2023, overriding a presidential veto, making it law in October that year. In April 2025, Minister Gilmar Mendes suspended STF actions, forming a working group with the Executive and Legislative, pausing PEC 48/2023 in the CCJ since July 2024.
The approval occurs amid tensions between Congress and STF, with Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP) scheduling controversial bills, including this one, in response to Court decisions like limiting impeachments of justices to the PGR. Government leader Jaques Wagner (PT-BA) criticized: “Legal insecurity is unbearable. The fault is not the indigenous peoples'. The fault is the Brazilian State, which failed the Constituent's mandate.” Proposal author Senator Dr. Hiran defended: “The marco temporal law has no unconstitutionality, but the government continued signaling demarcations, granting legal insecurity.”
Indigenous peoples and original movements oppose it, arguing the marco ignores nomadic communities and pre-1988 expulsions, advocating demarcations based on ancestral occupation. The Parliamentary Front for Agribusiness supports it, noting impacts on nearly 11,000 mining requests. Amin justified: “This amendment does not aim to deny indigenous peoples' rights, but to provide a solid basis for demarcation, avoiding conflicts.” The PEC seeks to shield the thesis from STF challenges, which is debating the issue without a scheduled vote this week.