Bolsonaro Claims Indians Live “Prehistorically, Within Their Land”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro again advocated the mining and exploitation of gemstones in indigenous territories in an event held in the Manaus Free Trade Zone on Wednesday morning, November 27th.

In the president’s assessment, the vast territory of the Amazon region has been underutilized due to what he classified as a high rate of indigenous land demarcations carried out by left-wing governments.

“Our Indians, most of them, are condemned to living as prehistoric men within our own country. This has to change. The Indian wants to produce, wants to plant, wants the benefits and wonders of science and technology. We are all Brazilians,” said the president, asking: “Why reserve a space on land where you can’t do anything about it? We want the Indian to do exactly what the farmer does next door on his land. They can even prospect.”

To an audience of entrepreneurs, politicians, and leaders of the Amazon region, Bolsonaro stated that he now has a bill for this purpose, about to be submitted to Congress. “It’s a suggestion of mine, the bill is quite advanced in this regard. We don’t want to keep the Indian as if he were a prehistoric man within his own land,” he added.

Sustainability and technology

This is the second time that the President visits the capital of the State of Amazonas. On Wednesday morning, he took part in the opening of the Sustainability Exhibition of the Manaus Industrial Pole (fesPIM), a project that seeks to ally sustainability and technology. The Manaus Industrial Pole (PIM) generates approximately 86,000 direct jobs.

In his speech, Bolsonaro also insisted that there is foreign interest in the Amazon. However, he emphasized that the Manaus Free Trade Zone was created with the aim of integrating the Amazon region into the country and, thus, protect it.

“But when wealth is great, we must redouble our concerns about it. I mention the industry of demarcation of indigenous lands. We have a State taken over by national parks, environmental policies that in part have hindered the growth of our Brazil”.

NGOs and fires

He once again hypothesized that the fires recorded in the largest forest on the planet, in his assessment, may have been deliberately caused by NGOs. The president mentioned, as an example, an operation of the Civil Police of Santarém (PA), which arrested members of NGOs for alleged involvement with fires in the region.

“Recently I said that fires were set by NGOs, now the police in Pará are pointing out that fires were set by NGOs. Little by little the truth is coming out,” said the president.