Immediate ‘stripping’ of rights
SAO PAULO: Newly installed Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has issued executive orders targeting the country’s indigenous groups, descendants of slaves, the LGBT community and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in the first hours of his administration.
This follows a campaign in which the farright leader said he would radically overhaul many aspects of life in Latin America’s largest nation.
One of the orders issued late on Tuesday (local time), hours after his inauguration, is likely to make it impossible for new lands to be identified and demarcated for indigenous communities. Areas set aside for ‘‘Quilombolas’’, as descendants of former slaves are known, are also affected by the decision.
Another order removed the concerns of the LGBT community from consideration by the new human rights ministry.
In a move favourable to his allies in agribusiness, Bolsonaro transferred the responsibilities for delineating indigenous territories from the Justice Ministry to the Agriculture Ministry.
The new agriculture minister, Tereza Cristina, is part of the agribusiness caucus in Brazil’s lower house and has opposed requests from native communities.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain and longtime congressman, said during his presidential campaign he would stop making what he calls concessions to native Brazilians and Quilombolas.
He also issued a temporary decree, which will expire unless it is ratified within 120 days by Congress, to mandate the office of the Government Secretary, Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz, ‘‘to supervise, coordinate, monitor and accompany the activities and actions of international organisations and nongovernmental organisations in the national territory’’.
The decree did not give reasons for the change, but Bolsonaro said on Twitter NGOs had ‘‘exploited and manipulated’’ the country’s indigenous population.
Observatorio do Clima, a network of 45 Brazilian civil society groups, said the executive orders ‘‘are only the first step on meeting Bolsonaro’s campaign promises of dismantling environmental governance, stripping indigenous peoples of their rights and opening up indigenous lands for business’’. — AP