Raoni and Chico Mendes' Daughter Announce Alliance against Bolsonaro's 'setbacks'

Meeting of indigenous leaders in Mato Grosso echoes Alliance of Forest Peoples of the 1980s and will send open letter to Congress

Chief Raoni, Angela Mendes, daughter of rubber tapper leader Chico Mendes (1944-1988), and indigenous leader Sônia Guajajara, launched on Wednesday (15) an alliance against public policies of the Jair Bolsonaro government in the environmental and indigenous areas.

In recent months, Bolsonaro has made several attacks on Raoni, such as saying he does not represent the indigenous people of the country. One of the responses of the caiapó chief was to hold a meeting in the Capoto-Jarina indigenous land in Mato Grosso.

Organized by the Raoni Institute and several non-governmental partners, the meeting brought together (13) about 320 indigenous people from various ethnic groups and states. The session should end on Friday (17) with the release of an open letter to Congress and the prosecutor.

Raoni Metuktire, Sonia Guajajara and Angela Mendes. (Foto: Bruno Santos/ Folhapress) - Folhapress

The "pact" of the extractivist movement with two of the country's main indigenous leaders refers, according to Ângela Mendes, to a project that her father developed in the 1980s with indigenous leaders such as Ailton Krenak: an Alliance of Forest Peoples.

She preached the "unification of forces that together we might resist." "Because they have the power and authority of the state on their behalf, but we have each other and the strength of the waters, the forests, and our ancestors."

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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