For over a month, indigenous peoples of Mato Grosso have been suffering from forest fires that have hit the state. According to the Federation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of Mato Grosso (Fepoimt), around 41 indigenous lands have been affected by the flames. 
The indigenous leader Mara Barreto Sinhowawe Xavante reported to Brazil Agency the situation that occurred in the Pimentel Barbosa Indigenous Land, in eastern Mato Grosso, where Xavante children climbed into huts with bottles of water to protect themselves from the fire that hit the community at the beginning of the week.
“In our territory, the fire started in the village of Pimentel, a village very far from ours. And it started there, it was an arson attack and the fire spread and burned for two weeks, kilometers and kilometers, until it reached our village,” she explains. According to Mara, the fire arrived very strong in the morning, burning everything around the village with very strong winds and soot.
“When the fire started to engulf everything there, our young people, our relatives, climbed into the huts with plastic bottles of water to try to protect themselves and the house so that the fire wouldn’t come to the hut,” she continued emotionally.
“It is a very strong, very emblematic situation, because that is exactly what they did,” he reported,
Indigenous peoples of Mato Grosso suffer from forest fires. – Erlie Runhamre Xavante
Training
Mara said that two people in the village were selected to take the firefighter course, and that they were unable to do much to contain the flames. She reported that, after completing the course offered by the State Department of the Environment, not enough equipment was left for the firefighters to work with.
“A training like this does not provide the conditions to carry out work in a territory the size of ours. It is just for show. Our firefighters do not have enough fire extinguishers and do not have enough to fight any type of fire. By the time the firefighter from the other community gets to ours, we would all be dead from the fire,” he criticized.
“If it weren’t for the wind, people would have been burned alive. Children, the elderly, innocent people, animals. The animals are already burned alive. Because wherever the fire passed, it burned everything,” lamented Mara.
The report of Brazil Agency tried to contact the Mato Grosso Environment Secretariat, but received no response.
Health
In addition to having to protect themselves from fires, indigenous people also suffer from respiratory diseases caused by smoke, difficulty in accessing food and drinking water.
“We have been without water in the community for a month. We only have one stream in the community and it is drying up, with a minimal amount of water. Thank goodness our community is small, a community of 150 people, so we are able to survive.” She points out, however, that the water from the stream is causing several problems, such as dysentery. “This water from the stream is not suitable for drinking. And it is the water they are drinking at the moment. So, it is causing several health problems in the community.”
The situation left everyone in the village very shaken.
“We are very sad, shaken and weakened when we see our fauna, our flora, our cerrado, being criminally destroyed. We live within the biome and give our lives so that it remains standing, as a way of guaranteeing our future generations a territory that, for us, is sacred,” he said.
Mara remembers that the ancestors of her people gave their lives for the territory.
“A lot of blood has been spilled and continues to be. It is very difficult to see all this destruction, especially for us, who depend so much on fauna and flora. Our territory still survives on hunting. It is very sad,” he added.
Agribusiness
Mara also criticized the government for failing to respect the rights of indigenous peoples. “If today there is this above-normal warming in the state of Mato Grosso, with temperatures reaching an average of almost 45°C and already reaching almost 50°C, the people responsible for this are the activities of agribusiness, because these activities are generating all this combustion, to the point that any fire spreads very quickly,” she criticized. “Considering that it is the only state that has three biomes [Amazônia, Cerrado e Pantanal]we see a governor who is governing only for the ruralist bench”, he criticized.
Data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) show that, in September alone, Mato Grosso has already registered 16,746 active fire outbreaks.
Crime
On Thursday (19), the governors of Central-West and North regions metat the Planalto Palace, with federal government ministers to discuss measures to combat the fires. One of the main demands presented is the harsher punishment for those who intentionally set fires. Arson was pointed out by the governors themselves as being one of the factors worsening the crisis.
At the time, the governor of Mato Grosso, Mauro Mendes, said that many of the fires in the state were caused by criminal acts. “This year, in addition to a climate problem, which was predictable, we had many fires, many of which were started by clearly criminal acts. No fire is started by anything other than human action. Some are caused by carelessness, some by negligence, but many are started by criminal acts,” said Mendes, in a statement to journalists at the end of the meeting.
Mendes advocated a “huge increase” in penalties to discourage such actions. “In my state, we arrested several people and, within hours, they were released in custody hearings. This crime is causing harm to health, the environment, and the image of the country, with a penalty that does not correspond to the extent of the damage it is causing to Brazilian society,” he said.
After the meeting, the Chief Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, said that the federal government plans to release of more resources to combat fires and purchase equipment so that the states can face one of the worst droughts in decades in the country.
The minister said that credits totaling R$514 million will be sent to states that request assistance. Costa also highlighted that the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) has authorization to release, next week, more than R$400 million to support fire departments in the states of the Legal Amazon, for the purchase of materials, equipment, and vehicles. “Other credits will be published as the governors present and materialize their demands,” said the minister.
Also present at the meeting were the vice-governors Sérgio Gonçalves da Silva (Rondônia) and Antônio Pinheiro Teles Júnior (Amapá).
Other actions
This week, the Minister of Integration and Regional Development, Waldez Góes, said that the federal government will guarantee all the financial resources necessary to combat the fires and drought that are affecting almost all Brazilian states. In an interview with Good morning, Minister.produced by Brazilian Communication Company (EBC), Goés said that the government is free to support states, the Federal District and municipalities because the expenses to combat the effects of the climate and environmental emergency were excluded from the current spending cap. According to the minister, these resources are initially for the Amazon and the Pantanal.
The Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, also authorized the use of the National Public Security Force in municipalities in the states of Amazonas, Pará, Rondônia, Mato Grosso, Roraima and Acre to act in combating forest fires, for 90 days.
