President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced that he intends to create a financing program for indigenous agriculture, to increase the production capacity of these peoples. He participated, this Monday (13), in the 52nd General Assembly of Indigenous Peoples, in the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land, in Roraima, and visited a fair set up at the event, at the Regional Center Lago Caracaranã, of organic products, handicrafts and the exhibition of animals raised on indigenous lands.
“This is proof I saw here at the small fair I just visited, a demonstration that, as long as you have the opportunity, that you have guaranteed land and that you have guaranteed financial incentives for you to produce, possibly you will produce equal to or better than anyone else trying to take a livelihood off the land. It is not possible that over that time so much money was lent for agricultural production in that country and that money did not reach indigenous agricultural production. I promise you that, when I return to Brasilia, I will deal with it with great care”, said Lula.
The demarcation of indigenous lands is also a priority on the government’s agenda. According to Lula, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples and the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) are carrying out a survey of all the lands that are ready to be demarcated. For the president, guaranteeing land to native peoples is a tool for preserving and combating climate change, as they are like “guardians of the forest” who, in turn, support the maintenance of climate quality.
“We need to demarcate them, before people take possession of them, before they invent false documents, false deeds and say they own the land. So, we quickly need to try to legalize all the lands that are almost ready, the studies, so that the indigenous people can occupy the territory that is theirs, to increase their production capacity and so that they can help people to take care of the climate, because if If people don’t take care of the climate, humanity will disappear due to irresponsibility. And we want to show that this world can produce food without having to cut down another tree in the Amazon, without having to spoil another river, without having to pollute the water any more”, argued the president.
According to Lula, still this year the meeting of the presidents of the Amazonian countries – Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia – should take place. “For us to definitively discuss how we are going to take care of our forests, so that we can transform the richness of the biodiversity of the entire Amazon Region to the benefit of the millions of people who live in the Amazon and die of hunger because they cannot survive. And who knows if we open up research to competently explore all the richness of biodiversity, maybe we will find a way out so that the Amazon can guarantee its people decent jobs, decent wages and improved quality of life, in addition to maintaining the forest standing,” he said.
The Council of Indigenous Peoples will also be recreated because, according to Lula, it makes no sense to establish policies “from the top down”. “It is important for us to respect your organization, so that you can decide what we have to do, to tell us what is important to do, the way we have to do it”, she said.
The president received a document with the demands made during the event and said that he will study what can be answered by the federal government. Since Saturday (11), the assembly has brought together around 2,000 indigenous leaders to discuss territorial protection, the environment and sustainability. Among the leaders are representatives of the Yanomami, Wai Wai, Yekuana, Wapichana, Macuxi, Sapará, Ingaricó, Taurepang and Patamona peoples.
IT Yanomami
Lula reaffirmed his commitment to withdraw miners from indigenous lands, especially from Yanomami Indigenous Landin Roraima.
The presence of prospectors in these communities triggered a humanitarian crisis that led the federal government to declare a Public Health Emergency of National Importance to combat the lack of health care for the Yanomami people, who suffer from malnutrition and other preventable diseases.
“The miners polluted that river water with mercury and now we’re going to have to make an artesian well to bring quality water so that those children can drink water and not die contaminated”, explained the president.
According to the president, the government should create small health posts in all indigenous villages to ensure that communities receive systematic visits from doctors. In addition, medicines will be distributed free of charge. “It is up to the Brazilian government to guarantee that, in addition to the consultation, the exam, the hospital, you have medicine to treat yourself with dignity, as many other people in Brazil have,” Lula said.
