Bolsonaro Says Amazon Countries Must Fight to Retain Sovereignty

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The presidents of countries that are part of the Amazon region and representatives of indigenous peoples took part in a meeting on Friday, September 6th, in search of ways to preserve the forest, after the fires recorded in recent weeks.

The conference lasted approximately three and a half hours and took place in the city of Leticia, Colombia, on the border with Brazil and Peru.

Seven of the eight countries covered by the Amazon region took part in the meeting, including Presidents Iván Duque (Colombia), Martín Vizcarra (Peru), Lenín Moreno (Ecuador) and Evo Morales (Bolivia), as well as representatives from Guyana and Suriname.

No Venezuelan representative attended the meeting.

President Jair Bolsonaro took part via videoconference. He was unable to travel to Leticia due to medical restrictions, as he will undergo surgery on Sunday, September 8th, to remove an incisional hernia.

In his speech, the Brazilian leader discussed the excessive demarcation of indigenous lands in his country, which cover 14 percent of its territory, and stressed that there is an ongoing threat to the sovereignty of countries in the region by major powers, such as France, in reference to recent criticism from its president, Emmanuel Macron.

“Only in this way, with our unity, and without ever yielding to any external temptation to leave our area under the administration of a third party, may we ensure that these riches revert in the form of benefits, in the form of well-being for our peoples,” said the president.

“We do have our Amazon region threatened. Why not put it this way, these enormous indigenous areas in Brazil,” he added.

Bolsonaro said that there is a strong international interest in the Amazon’s mineral resources, which is why the countries’ governments must strengthen and uphold the control of the territory.

“Yes, we think about the indigenous people, we think about the environment, we think about the mosquito, we think about the snake, we think about the fish, we think about all this, but what other people in the world really want is to take possession of these riches, these resources and minerals that no longer exist in abundance or with so much surplus in other countries,” he said.

As a result of the meeting, the Colombian government is expected to release a document currently being dubbed the “Leticia Pact for the Amazon,” with a series of measures to be implemented by the region’s governments to address the problems of deforestation and forest fires.