Sonia Guajajara

Sônia Guajajara, is a Brazilian indigenous activist, environmentalist, and politician. A member of the leftist Socialism and Liberty Party, she was initially a candidate for President of Brazil in the 2018 election, before being chosen as the vice presidential running mate of nominee Guilherme Boulos. This made her the first indigenous person to run for a federal executive position in Brazil.

Guajajara is the leader of the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil), an organization that represents around 300 indigenous ethnic groups in Brazil. Guajajara strongly opposes efforts to contact uncontacted peoples in the Amazon Rainforest. In 2020, she called for urgent environmental action amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

During her time as an activist, she has organized a number of demonstrations in support of indigenous rights in Brazil, and facilitated a meeting of indigenous leaders with then-President Dilma Rousseff in 2013. In 2015, she was named to the Brazilian Ordem do Mérito Cultural. She was also awarded a medal by Maranhão state.

In March 2022 she was amongst 151 international feminists signing Feminist Resistance Against War: A Manifesto, in solidarity with the Feminist Anti-War Resistance initiated by Russian feminists after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Also in 2022, Guajajara was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time.