Chief Nailton Muniz Pataxó (Pataxó/Tupinambá), warrior shaman, is one of the most emblematic leaders of the Indigenous movement in Brazil, especially in Bahia. His life story is inextricably intertwined with the trajectory of resistance, reoccupation, and territorial affirmation of his People on the CaramuruCatarina Paraguaçu Indigenous Land in the municipality of Pau Brasil, southern Bahia.
Chief Nailton is more than a chief: he is an ancestral voice of the Retomadas (Reclaimed Lands), a link between the Elders’ memories, the Encantados (Enchanted Lands), and the future of new generations. He spent his childhood surrounded by traditional farming practices and community life. He lived in São Paulo for a few years, having been expelled from his land by landowners with State support. Upon his return to Bahia, guided by his family, he began a new phase of political articulation with the Pataxó Peoples and direct engagement in the struggle for territory, dignity, and existence.
In the 1980s, Chief Nailton became a leading figure in the fight to reclaim the ancestral Pataxó territory. Alongside his family and other leaders, he promoted the occupation of Fazenda São Lucas, where they would resist for 17 years, facing violent reintegration, threats, and criminalization from the judicial system. He also led repossessions in several regions in the state of Bahia, one of the most violent toward Indigenous Peoples in the country. Even in the face of State-sanctioned police brutality and persecution by landowners, the Pataxó did not back down.
Chief Nailton was also active in national Indigenous mobilizations. His leadership contributed to the recognition of Indigenous Peoples as subjects of rights in the 1988 Constitution—one of the most significant historical achievements of the Brazilian Indigenous movement and a milestone in the global history of Indigenous struggles.
The year 2012 marked the great victory of Chief Nailton’s struggle and that of the Pataxó People with the consolidation of the recovery of the Rio Pardo territory, a process that led the Supreme Federal Court to finally rule on the title nullification lawsuit. “The Supreme Court only confirmed what we had already done,” Chief Nailton said.
Chief Nailton also works tirelessly on the political and spiritual development of young people, training the youngest so they can become warriors and organizers like him. This pedagogy of struggle and reclaiming has strengthened the Pataxó youth to continue occupying, denouncing, and caring for the territory.
A figure of determination, Chief Nailton carries deep pain from the recent death of close relatives, especially his sister and the shaman Nega Pataxó, who were shot by farmers on the Inhuma Farm during a reclamation in 2024. Chief Nailton was injured in the attack, and upon recovering and mourning his sister, he struck his spear on the ground and declared, “This is Indigenous land! Farmers will not return here!”
Chief Nailton embodies the wisdom of Elders and the strength of those who never surrendered. He is a living example that reclaiming is not just occupying: it is re-existing, with dignity, in time and territory.
Photo courtesy of Chief Nailton Muniz Pataxó.
