JUMA XIPAIA

Juma is an Indigenous leader belonging to the Xipaya people, activist and medical student at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). At the age of 24, she was the first woman to become a chief in the Middle Xingu, leading the Tukamã village. During her adolescence, she resisted the construction of Belo Monte and, later, was part of the growing Xingu Forever movement that fights for the rights of the indigenous people impacted by the plant.

In 2017, after discovering a corruption scheme involving indigenous assistance companies, she experienced the daily terror of death threats. For this reason, she left Brazil and spent a year in Switzerland. Juma was the first academic indigenous and Xipaya representative to speak at the UN, she serves as director of the Association of Indigenous Students at UFPA, advisor to the Xingu Women's Movement, the Federation of Indigenous Peoples of Pará and the Liberate the Future: Climate Change movement. She also created the Juma Institute in October 2020. With more than 14 years of dedication to the Indigenous Movement, Juma defends gender equality, the autonomy of indigenous peoples and plays an important role against co-option and corruption.