Érica Sato
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Paulo - Friday (2) was the first day of the national encounter of communities formed by descendants of runaway slaves ("quilombolas"), "Brazilian Runaway Slave Communities ("Quilombos"): Recognition, Regularization, and Entitlement," in Ubatuba, on the São Paulo coast. The encounter, sponsored by the Association of Offspring of the Caçandoca Quilombo Community and the São Paulo State Commission of Quilombo Communities, extended through Sunday (4) and counted on the presence of Matilde Ribeiro, minister of the Special Secretariat of Policies to Promote Racial Equality (Seppir).

According to the Seppir, representatives of 200 quilombola organizations and communities from the state of São Paulo and 50 from other parts of Brazil, confirmed that they would attend. The participants' main objective is to discuss routes to the quickest possible regularization of their communities' definitive title to quilombo lands around the country.

Federal government organs, such as the Seppir, the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra, attached to the Ministry of Agrarian Development), and the Palmares Cultural Foundation (part of the Ministry of Culture), were expected to send representatives to the event, as were the State of São Paulo Parliamentary Front for the Defense of Quilombola Communities, state government secretariats, and municipalities where quilombola communities exist.

Translation: David Silberstein