Getúlio Vargas visited the Xingu in 1954, but did not authorize demarcation. After his death, the project was filed away until 1961 when president Jânio Quadros signed a version that would protect an area ten times smaller than initially proposed.

Demarcated by the civil government, the territory was used by the dictatorship to conceal violations to indigenous rights in other parts of the country. While bulldozers were let loose in the Amazon, the Xingu was portrayed in official propaganda as a state-guarded Eden.