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Deputies request Bolsonaro to be blamed for Yanomani Indians' crisis in Brazil

Malnutrition of indigenous people living in the Amazon motivated a lawsuit in the Federal Prosecution Office against the former president

O Liberal

24/01/2023

The deputies of the Workers Party (PT) filed a complaint to the Federal Prosecution Office for the mismanagement of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the lands of the Yanomamis, in Roraima. The document presented by the parliamentarians is a criminal representation for the lack of health care and severe malnutrition of the indigenous population.

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The petition targets, besides Bolsonaro, the certified senator and former minister Damares Alves and others - Photo: Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil

The petition also targets Damares Alves, former minister of Women, Family and Human Rights, Franklimberg Ribeiro de Freitas and Marcelo Augusto Xavier da Silva, former presidents of the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples.

On Saturday (21), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) visited the region and said that the situation is "inhuman" and that Bolsonaro was more concerned with making motorcades than with caring for the population. Bolsonaro answered that 20 health actions were carried out that took specialized attention inside the indigenous territories. The Ministry of Health decreed a public emergency in the area.

The PT deputies ask the Federal Prosecution Office to open a criminal investigation procedure to investigate the actions of the authorities of the previous government. The action is signed by congressmen Reginaldo Lopes (MG), Zeca Dirceu (PR), Alencar Santana (SP) and Maria do Rosário (RS).

"The Yanomami indigenous peoples were victims of criminal actions and omissions, in a State policy orchestrated and conducted to lead to the decimation of that community in particular and of other indigenous peoples in the region, aiming to pave the way for mining, logging and other deleterious economic occupations of the aforementioned lands. Those responsible for this genocide cannot go unpunished," says the petition.

The document also states that society is appalled by the scenes of food shortage, which should not exist in the country. According to the text, Bolsonaro is responsible for authorizing, encouraging and protecting illegal mining on Yanomami indigenous lands and in several regions of the Amazon.

"This State policy commanded directly by the former president of [...] contributed decisively to the contamination of rivers (mercury) and, consequently, resulted in impacts on food (fishing) and sanitary conditions (health) of traditional peoples who live and survive in areas where there should be no mining, legal or illegal," it says.

Extermination policy - There has been a policy of "extermination" of the ethnic group and other indigenous communities, claim the deputies. In his Telegram channel, Bolsonaro said, "against yet another farce of the left, the truth! From 2020 to 2022, there were 20 health actions that took specialized attention inside the indigenous territories."

The former president also presented a publication from the Ministry of Health, dated December 20, with the title: "Assistance to the indigenous population was one of the priorities during the covid-19 pandemic; know the actions." In the publication, the Bolsonaro administration stated that "care for indigenous health [was] one of the priorities of the federal government." It also said that in the period "from 2019 to November 2022, the Ministry of Health provided more than 53 million primary care attendances to traditional peoples."

New state's secretary - The calamitous situation of the Yanomami people in Roraima also had repercussions on the political structure of the government of Pará. Governor Helder Barbalho announced on Twitter this Sunday morning that he will create the Secretariat for Indigenous Peoples of Pará, with the objective of meeting the demands of indigenous populations in Pará territory. The governor also said that the new secretariat will be headed by an indigenous leader.