Sonia Guajajara

Sonia Gujajara was born on March 6, 1974, in the Araribóia Indigenous Land, of the Guajajara/Tentehar People, in the State of Maranhão. She has a bachelor’s degree in Literature and a postgraduate degree in Special Education. She is the first indigenous woman to be appointed Minister of State, of the first Ministry of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil. An activist and defender of indigenous and socio-environmental rights, Sonia was a member of the Coordination of Organizations and Articulations of Indigenous Peoples of Maranhão (COAPIMA), the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), the National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ascendancy (ANMIGA) and served as executive coordinator of APIB (Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil). In 2018, Sonia Guajajara was a candidate for vice president of the Republic, opening the discussion within the indigenous movement on the importance of political occupation. In 2022, responding to APIB’s call, she made a commitment to the indigenous presence in Brazilian politics, launching together with other indigenous candidates, her campaign for federal deputy for the state of São Paulo, becoming the first indigenous deputy elected in the state and the indigenous with the highest vote in history. Her name gained international recognition, which led her to participate in several United Nations (UN) bodies, such as the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Human Rights Council and the World Climate and Biodiversity Conferences. In 2022, TIME magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In recognition of her trajectory and representation in the defense of the rights of indigenous peoples, she was invited by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to take on the challenge of leading Brazil’s unprecedented Ministry of Indigenous Peoples. In 2023, she was augurated as immortal by the Brazilian Academy of Culture of Brazil. In 2024, the State University of Rio de Janeiro awarded the degree Honoris Causa to Minister Sonia Guajajara. She also received the Four Freedoms Award from the Franklyn Delano Roosevelt Foundation, with the support of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Sonia was elected president of FILAC, for the biennium 2024 to 2026, where she intends to structure even more partnerships and projects to strengthen indigenous rights and policies, being committed to organize the best and largest indigenous participation in the history of the Environmental Conferences, in 2025, during COP30, as well as to support, whenever possible, the organization of COP16 in Colombia.