In a ceremony full of emotion, just three days after the terrorist acts that destroyed the buildings of the Republic, Sônia Guajajara took over, this Wednesday (11), at the Planalto Palace, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples and Anielle Franco, the Ministry of Racial equality.
The ceremonies of both, which would not be held together, had to be rescheduled in a single ceremony after the coup vandalism on Sunday (8). The union ended up generating a symbolic meeting of the ancestral wealth that makes up the Brazilian identity. People from the terreiro, and their African heritage, alongside indigenous people of different ethnicities, colored the Main Hall of the Planalto Palace and moved the hundreds of people present.
This time, the ministerial assumption was attended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva himself, who did not accompany other assistants over the past week. He was accompanied by the first lady, Janja da Silva, vice president Geraldo Alckmin and ministers.
violations
In her inauguration speech, Sônia Guajajara, the first indigenous woman to hold a ministerial position, stated that the native peoples are experiencing a humanitarian crisis in Brazil. He cited as causes the invasions of territories, deforestation, illegal mining, lack of adequate assistance in health and sanitation, among others.
“It is no longer possible for us to coexist with indigenous peoples subjected to all sorts of ills, such as malnutrition in children and the elderly, malaria, rape of women and girls and high rates of suicide. President Lula, I dare say, without exaggeration, that many indigenous peoples live a true humanitarian crisis in our country and now I am here to work together, to end the normalization of this unconstitutional state that has worsened in recent years,” he said.
Climate and environmental issue
Guajajara also spoke about the climate emergency and how indigenous territories are essential in the fight against global warming.
“If, before, the demarcations were mainly focused on the preservation of our culture, new studies have been demonstrating that the maintenance of these areas has an even more comprehensive importance, being fundamental for the stability of ecosystems all over the planet, ensuring quality of life, including in big cities. Hence the importance of recognizing the original rights of indigenous peoples over the lands they live in,” said the minister.
The new minister also drew society’s attention to the preservation of the planet. “We are not the only ones who need to live here. We just cohabit Mother Earth along with millions of other species. The disdain for these other forms of life, the practices of intense deforestation always carried out in the name of the short-term economy, have negative effects. devastating for the future of us all”, he warned.
Guajajara took the opportunity to announce the recreation of the National Council for Indigenous Policy, extinct in 2019, by the previous government. “[O conselho] guarantees equal participation between indigenous representations from all Brazilian states and bodies of the federal executive”, emphasized the minister.
At the end of the speech by the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, the Terena people performed the Ema Dance.
