“The Indian is becoming human being like us,” Jair Bolsonaro
The Brazilian president would face a lawsuit for this racist comment against the natives of his country.
President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro. / Photo: Reuters
LatinAmerican Post | Marcela Peñaloza
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Leer en español: “El indio es cada vez más ser humano como nosotros”, Jair Bolsonaro
Again Jair Bolsonaro is in the middle of the public scandal for racist comments he made through his social networks. In a transmission in which he informed the creation of the Council of the Amazon, the Brazilian president said that "the Indian has changed, is evolving and becoming increasingly a human being like us". "What we want is to integrate him into society so that he can own his land", the president added.
"O índio mudou, está evoluindo, está cada vez mais um ser humano igual a nós"
Jair Bolsonaro, presidente do Brasil pic.twitter.com/cqxnDXQIMC
— William De Lucca (@delucca) January 24, 2020
Before the comments, the reactions did not wait and in fact legal actions were announced against the president. Sonia Guajajara, executive coordinator of the main indigenous organization in Brazil, Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib, in Spanish), said on her Twitter account that "Apib will go to justice against Jair Bolsonaro for the crime of racism."
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A @apiboficial entrará na justiça contra Jair Bolsonaro por crime de racismo. Nós, povos indígenas, originários desta terra, exigimos respeito! Bolsonaro mais uma vez rasga a Constituição ao negar nossa existência enquanto seres humanos. É preciso dar um basta à esse perverso!
— Sonia Guajajara (@GuajajaraSonia) January 24, 2020
Guajajara, in the same tweet, asked for respect and affirmed that “Bolsonaro once again breaks the Constitution by denying our existence as human beings. We must stop this wicked one! ”
According to France 24, the situation originated because “leaders of 45 tribes gathered in the Xingu reserve to sign a memorandum against the mining project that the Bolsonaro government intends to implement. According to the indigenous people, legalizing artisanal or small-scale mining, known as 'garimpo', constitutes a 'genocide, ethnocide and ecocide', which they accuse Bolsonaro of. ”
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Bolsonaro has repeatedly stated that indigenous reserves are very large and that he plans to allow mining as well as agriculture.
Bolsonaro and the controversies
This is not the first time the president has been in the eye of the storm because of his claims. Last year, Bolsonaro referred to activist Greta Thungberg as a "brat" and accused actor Leonardo DiCaprio of financing the Amazon fires. When pointing to DiCaprio, the president did not present any evidence.
It seems that every time Bolsonaro wants to avoid responsibility for his political actions or establish measures that threaten the environment, the president resorts to launching controversial statements.
