The indigenous anthropologist Márcio Meira was the president of the National Indian Foundation (Funai), the federal institution responsible for the demarcation of indigenous territories, between 2007 and 2012. Then a series of huge areas under indigenous control were created, which extend for more than two million square kilometers, four times the surface of Spain, 27% of the Amazon. Largely for this reason, deforestation fell by 84% between 2004 and 2012. Now Meira is one of the directors of the Emilio Goeldi Museum in Belem, which houses the extraordinary collection of pottery from the Marajoaras, proof that the Pre-Columbian Amazonian societies were complex, technologically advanced, and densely populated.
What would be the consequence of a Bolsonaro victory for the environment in the Amazon and indigenous rights?
If Bolsonaro wins re-election, the Amazon will be subjected to an increasingly strong attack both on indigenous lands and on conservation units. All indicators point to a marked increase in deforestation and forest degradation due to the selective exploitation of wood. The presence of illegal miners on indigenous lands has risen 400% during the Bolsonaro administrations.
Bolsonaro says that deforestation does not go up with his government and did not go down with Lula…
It is totally false. In the debate on television the other day, Bolsonaro lied again. If you only need to look on Google and you can see it! Lula reduced deforestation by more than 80%. It is a fact. And with Bolsonaro, deforestation has increased. Another fact.
What is the impact of illegal mining?
It is very serious from the point of view of human rights. Women and children are being raped, children are dying as a result of mercury in the rivers. In Yanomami, Munduruku, Kayapó territory… serious human rights violations are taking place. The miners are armed taking advantage of the legislation in favor of the possession of weapons. If Bolsonaro returns to the presidency, the destruction may reach a point of no return. This during a pandemic in which indigenous peoples have been the main victims. Violence against isolated villages has increased in the Javari Valley, for example, where Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira were killed in an environment of growing drug trafficking and illegal fishing.
It is ironic that Damares Alves, who has been Bolsonaro’s minister of women, family and human rights, denounces a false case of sexual abuse of children trafficked from here on Marajó Island and does not denounce these real cases of rape and murder …
Exactly. She is denouncing alleged cases of torture and child trafficking on the Island of Marajó. But there is no evidence. It’s a conspiracy theory. And she creates a smokescreen when the true fact that can be verified is the rape of Yanomami girls by illegal miners. She ignores a factual reality of abuse and violence against indigenous girls and then makes a fanatical, false and cynical speech about this alleged child trafficking for which there is no evidence.
Why is action not being taken to combat these garimpeiros?
There are no longer crime-fighting operations in the Amazon. When it happens it is due to a judicial decision, it does not come from Funai or the government.
Bolsonaro says he sent the army to the Amazon to combat deforestation, didn’t it work?
They decided to deploy the military in the Amazon but it was more of a fireworks show than a real operation. The military have no technical competence. On the borders like in the Javari Valley, or in Yanomami territory or in the Alto Río Negro, they can protect Brazilian territory. But it is not their role to fight environmental crimes in the Amazon.
Bolsonaro has tried to dismantle many of these protective institutions…
Yes . It is a process that Judge Carmen Lució described as “the rot of the institutions.” From the outside they seem intact but you give it a little tap and everything falls off. If Bolsonaro were re-elected it would no longer be woodworm, but direct destruction. He already tried to do it with Funai.
How?
He tried to destroy Funai in the first year, after taking office, in 2019. On the first day, he announced a provisional measure, a bill to withdraw the power to decide on the demarcation of indigenous territories. They wanted to transfer it to the Ministry of Agriculture! Fortunately, Congress did not support it and the Supreme Court ruled that it was not constitutional. But if he wins again they will try again. Demarcation is the most important thing Funai does. It is key to the protection of the Amazon. And it is a complex administrative process. It begins with the identification of the indigenous land and ends with presidential approval, a technical process that is long and has several stages.
Does Bolsonaro want to dismantle environmental controls?
Yes. Funai collaborates with the Brazilian Institute of the Environment (Ibama) and also manages and grants construction licenses, such as roads, when these affect indigenous territory. Bolsonaro wanted to remove this competition from Funai as well. The goal was to liberalize everything. Whoever wants to do a work, let him do it… The signal he gives is that anything goes. It was not achieved thanks to the intervention of institutions such as the Supreme Court. Then the tactic changed; it was decided to destroy Funai from the inside. They put people in the leadership who did not understand indigenous politics; military, police… They took away the per diems from the officials so they wouldn’t go to the indigenous villages. The policy of woodworm. And they created legal arrangements that allowed soybeans to be planted on some indigenous lands.
Bruno Pereira was dismissed by Funai…
It is part of the same process. There was a policy of harassment of Funai workers. Bruno had commitments to the indigenous people but they didn’t let him do the job. And, in the end, he decided to leave. He had been the general coordinator in Brasilia. I hired him. This moral harassment of public officials occurred at Ibama and also at the Chico Mendes Institute.
