Brasilia, October 6 (RHC) Philosopher, professor, writer, poet and environmentalist Ailton Krenak became the first indigenous representative to occupy a chair in the Brazilian Academy of Letters, the institution announced Thursday.

The activist of the native peoples' cause occupies the vacancy left by José Murilo de Carvalho, who died last August.

Krenak received 23 votes, Mary Lucy Murray Del Priore had 12 and Daniel Munduruku, four.

The election of the native writer "is a vision of the world that is very appropriate for this moment in which the world is concerned about the environment, about climate change, about native peoples fighting for their rights", said the president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters -ABL-, Merval Pereira.

He said that "all this is embedded in the victory of Ailton Krenak here at the Academy, and we are very happy with that".

Born in 1953 in the municipality of Itabirinha, in the interior of the state of Minas Gerais (southeast), Krenak founded in 1985 the non-governmental organization Núcleo de Cultura Indígena, which seeks to promote aboriginal culture.

In the 1987 Constituent Assembly, in which the group participated as a result of a popular amendment, he took an active role in the defense of the rights of his people.

According to the G1 portal, the author of several books such as "Ideas to postpone the end of the world", "Life is not useful" and "Tomorrow is not for sale", has had his works translated in more than 13 countries. He currently lives in the Krenak Indigenous Reserve, in the municipality of Resplendor (Minas Gerais).

For Pereira, the writer "is really an indigenous person who works the indigenous culture, the valorization of orality and the tradition of passing messages and thoughts". (Source: Prensa Latina).