We, the Macuxi, Wapichana, Taurepang, Sapará, Patamona, Wai Wai, Ingarikó, Yanomami and Yekuana indigenous peoples, belonging to the Amajari, Baixo Cotingo, Murupu, Raposa, Serras, Serra da Lua, Surumu, Tabaio, Alto Cauamé, Wai Wai, São Marcos and Yanomami indigenous peoples, represented by our indigenous organizations, hereby reject and repudiate the presidential vetoes to the text of PL 1142/2020 (current Law no.Law No. 14,021, of July 7, 2020).
The presidential vetoes demonstrate yet another attempt by the Bolsonaro government to exterminate indigenous peoples and reinforce the policy of genocide underway in the country carried out by the current government. The Pandemic brought to light the Brazilian State's neglect of indigenous health in the face of an emergency situation of international dimension.
We want to alert the world, society, that our territories are being invaded by hundreds of miners, in the Yanomami Indigenous Land there are 20 thousand miners, in Raposa Serra do Sol 2 thousand arrive, our rivers polluted by mercury, our leaders murdered and criminalized and our forests being destroyed and stolen. But so far we have not seen any effective action from the federal government.
As a result, the bill was proposed in the face of the federal government's failure to adopt urgent measures. The bill was approved in the Federal Chamber and the Senate after extensive debate with the participation of indigenous peoples on the situation in indigenous territories, and also in the face of the increase in deaths of our indigenous relatives in Brazil, Today there are more than 426 deaths, 11,385 infected and more than 124 peoples infected by the virus according to APIB data. In Roraima, we lost 45 leaders, and there are already more than 400 infected.
We were waiting with hope for the sanction of the law and with the desire to see our demands met, but we were surprised by the vetoes that would exclude the main necessary measures: universal access to drinking water, emergency supply of ICU beds, facilitation of the payment of emergency aid and social security benefits for communities, purchase or availability of ventilators and oxygenation machines.
In view of this, we repudiate this criminal act, and we ask that the National Congress overturn the vetoes. And that the institutions in charge take appropriate measures. The federal government's negligence in the face of the threat of extinction of several peoples as a result of the pandemic and the indigenous policy of the current president is unacceptable.
We will continue to resist! Indigenous Lives Matter!
Boa Vista – RR, 07/08/2020.
Sign:
1 - Hutukara Yanomami Association – HAY;
2 - Organization of Indigenous Women of Roraima – OMIR;
3 - Association of Indigenous Peoples of the São Marcos Indigenous Land - APTISM;
4 - Organization of Indigenous Teachers of Roraima - OPIRR;
5 – Indigenous Council of Roraima – CIR;
6 – Association of Indigenous Peoples of Roraima - APIRR
Letter-conjunta_repúdio.-vetoes-to-PL-1142 (opens in new window)