Accommodation platforms Airbnb and Booking profit from service fees on daily rates for beach houses on illegally leased indigenous lands next to Caraíva, a popular tourist destination in the far south of Bahia.
According to a count cited in the report, the platforms provide at least 60 accommodations in the village of Xandó, which lies within the Barra Velha indigenous land, approved in 1991 and located in Caraíva.
With the Caraíva depleted, Xandó has experienced intense real estate and tourism expansion in recent years. This expansion was possible because the villagers, indigenous to the Pataxo ethnic group, sold and rented plots of land there – a practice prohibited by law.
Four Airbnb and Booking accommodation hosts interviewed for the report confirmed that they had leased the land for tourism exploration. One of them said he was renting at the same time from an indigenous person and a non-indigenous person who had been given a plot of land in Zanu.
When contacted, Booking stated that it had opened an investigation into the offer of residency in the region and said that it was ready to work with the competent authorities. The platform also says that based on the results of internal investigations, it may remove properties from the platform.
“All accommodation providers who advertise on Booking.com must agree to our terms and conditions, confirming that they are legally permitted to rent their accommodation and are fully compliant with all applicable local laws,” says a memo sent by the company.
Airbnb stated that it complies with legislation related to the services it provides, does not broker reservations, and does not manage, manage or own the accommodations advertised on the platform.
“To date, the company has not been officially informed of irregularities in units offered for seasonal rental through its platform,” a memo sent to the report said.
The practice of leasing indigenous lands is prohibited by the Indian Act of 1973 and by Law No. 14701, passed by President Lula in 2023.
The latter allows cooperation with non-indigenous people to undertake economic activities, as long as the fruits of the activity generate benefits for the entire community and as long as the contracts are registered with the Funai.
When contacted, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples confirmed that the practice was prohibited by law and said it was seeking to find a solution through mediation with indigenous people.
“With regard to the sale and lease of areas in any indigenous territory, the Indigenous Peoples Initiative asserts that the 1988 Federal Constitution prohibits this practice,” the ministry said in a memorandum. “But in cases like the one in Zandu Territory, the Ministry’s role is to build solutions with communities regarding existing leases, ensuring territorial independence and security for indigenous peoples.”
Indigenous leaders in the village of Xandó advocate for rents as a way to generate income in the community. But they realize that this practice is irregular.
“These violations have had negative impacts: obstructions to health services by Cesay (Indigenous Health Secretariat), suspension of the expansion of the electricity network (…),” says Zanu’s vice president, João Cunha, according to minutes of a meeting held in May.
He suggests signing a TAC (Term Behavior Modification) to formalize partnerships with non-indigenous people on site. Also according to the minutes, the same association decided to suspend construction in Xandó.
Funai (National Indigenous Foundation), an indigenous body of the Brazilian government, was contacted via email, phone and WhatsApp, but did not send a statement.
Control by red driving makes mediation difficult
In addition to being a leasing target, the area is controlled by the CV (Comando Vermelho), a criminal faction that uses indigenous lands – and the village of Xandó, in particular – as a support point for drug sales in the area, according to two members of the government and two area residents interviewed by AFP. Bound.
Last Thursday (6), agents of the Federal and State Police killed five people during an operation in which rifles, pistols and a grenade were seized. According to the National Front, police officers were fired upon and returned fire.
Before that, on the 23rd, Comando Vermelho had distributed, via letters, instructions asking Zanu residents to drive with their car windows open: “We do not want the blood of innocent people to be shed.”
Throughout this year, Shandu has been the scene of police operations and conflicts between criminal organizations, with shootings and killings of a divided indigenous population.
In early October, a young man was shot dead in the village. In July, a federal police operation against drug trafficking led to the killing of two people, the arrest of six others, and the confiscation of five rifles and four pistols, as well as drugs and ammunition.
The regional coordinator for Funai is absent and under the protection of the National Program for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders after receiving death threats. He was one of those reporting irregular sales and rent operations in the area.
In 2022, the Federal Public Ministry filed a general civil action against Funai for possible omission of indigenous authority in relation to the illegal occupation of indigenous lands. That year, 46% of housing in ZANU was owned by non-indigenous people, according to a report by the body attached to the process.
The Bahia court dismissed the lawsuit in November last year, in favor of establishing a task force “to implement measures in favor of the sustainable and dignified development of the indigenous Bataxo community of Zanu.”
A year after GT was identified, Funai is preparing a new survey of the presence of non-indigenous people on the site, with the idea that the document will support the measure to not hack Xandó until the end of the current presidential term, in December 2026, according to a member of the government who is following the topic.
The executive members agree on the need to implement the de-infiltration process through dialogue with the residents of Pataxo, and to offer economic alternatives, such as investment in production chains and eco-tourism. They do not rule out benefiting from the homes built on the site after they are eventually vacated.
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