In the waters of the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon, Brazilian indigenous people aboard a motorboat make the “L” for Lula with their fingers as they make their way to vote for the former president. Like many Brazilians, these indigenous people of the Kambeba ethnicity vote for a school. But to get there, you have to take a boat to the neighboring town.
“For us indigenous peoples, it is important to fight for democracy and to vote and elect people who value and respect indigenous peoples,” Raimundo Cruz da Silva, 42, deputy Tuxaua (the equivalent of a cacique) of the Kambeba in the Três Unidos community.
Dressed in a white shirt with vertical stripes of green tribal prints, he does not hide that he is going to vote for Lula (PT), an opponent of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The latter is heavily criticized by most indigenous leaders, including the emblematic cacique Raoni Metuktire, who filed a “genocide” lawsuit at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
The Três Unidos community, the place Raimundo Cruz da Silva, which is home to about 115 indigenous people, is located in a reserve about 60 km from Manaus. About 40 people simultaneously vote aboard four speedboats bound for the community of São Sebastião, where the polling station is located in a public school.
Along the murky waters of the Rio Negro, they see the lush emerald vegetation as far as the eye can see, before reaching São Sebastião, a town on the edge of the indigenous reserve.
“Looking at the Amazon”
It’s a special day for 18-year-old Taynara da Costa Cruz, who is going to vote for the first time. “Voting is very important to me, especially for us young people who are voting for the first time. It is very important to look at the Amazon and the indigenous peoples,” says this young craftsman, who wears a necklace and made a diadem with seeds from the Amazon.
All the women of the Kambeba people wear long white dresses. Leurilene Cruz da Silva, Raimundo’s sister, also wears two rows of seeds in her hair that look like a string of pearls.
Upon arrival in São Sebastião, this 38-year-old nurse proudly displays her voter card. “We need to be represented, it’s an important day. We hope that our voice will not be thrown away, especially us, the indigenous peoples, who have to show our resistance to the world,” he says.
Shortly after his election in 2018, Jair Bolsonaro promised he would not give up an “extra inch” of land to indigenous peoples. He also favored the exploitation of minerals and agriculture in these areas, ostensibly reserved for traditional indigenous activities.
During his tenure, which began in January 2019, average annual deforestation increased by 75% per year compared to the previous decade.
Lula’s environmental legacy is far from flawless, but the former president (2003-2010) pledged during his campaign to create a ministry of indigenous peoples, headed by an indigenous personality.
Source: DN
