Brazil’s Congress weakens environmental, Indigenous ministries
Movement marks a setback to President Lula da Silva’s effort to protect indigenous rights and curb deforestation in the Amazon.
Brazil’s conservative-majority congress has voted to scale down the authority of two ministries dedicated to upholding indigenous rights and protecting the environment after opposition from the South American country’s powerful agribusiness industry.
In a vote of 51 to 9 in the Senate on Thursday, Brazilian lawmakers took steps to strip the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of some of their powers. The measure passed easily in the lower house of Congress the day before.
Objecting to what he called “restrictions on the agricultural industry that could hurt exports,” Senator Carlos Viana said during Thursday’s voting session that “the main points [of the caucus] have been addressed”.
The vote marks a setback for left-wing Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who had pledged to put indigenous rights and the fight against climate change front and center after years of neglect under his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.
Indigenous and environmental advocates had hoped Lula’s electoral victory last year would boost their fortunes after Bolsonaro’s tenure, whose government was blamed for record deforestation and violence against indigenous peoples.
But Thursday’s vote underlined the political strength of Brazil’s agribusiness, and critics have expressed frustration at what they saw as a lackluster attempt by Lula to counter the cuts.
The changes prevent the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples from legalizing the boundaries of new Indigenous lands and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change from administering a property registry – a central tool for tracking deforestation and managing water resources.
The rollback of such authorities is a great success for Brazil’s “beef caucus”, which is closely aligned with the country’s large livestock and agricultural industries that formed the main elements of Bolsonaro’s constituency.
The caucus opposes the legalization of more indigenous land, as well as all measures to control deforestation.
During the Bolsonaro administration, deforestation in the Brazilian portion of the Amazon rainforest reached dizzying new heights as agribusiness interests and illegal commercial enterprises expanded their operations in the region.
Watchdog groups say the government largely turns a blind eye and Indigenous communities are often victims of violence and abuse.
On Tuesday, Indigenous rights advocates suffered another setback when the lower house of Congress passed a bill banning the establishment of Indigenous reservations on land where they were not present in 1988, when the current constitution was passed.
Indigenous groups claim the closure violates their rights, given that many were forced from their ancestral lands, especially during Brazil’s military dictatorship of 1964-1985.
In a Twitter post on Thursday, indigenous rights group Survival International called that bill a “kiss to death for Brazil’s indigenous peoples and their highly biodiverse areas.”