Brasilia – Indigenous chief Raoni
Metuktire, proposed for the Nobel Peace Prize, said on Wednesday
his people would not leave the Amazon and called on Brazil
President Jair Bolsonaro to step down, a day after the head of
state accused him of being a pawn of foreign interests.
Brazil's top indigenous chief was welcomed by opposition
lawmakers with ovations and tribal chants at Congress, where he
spoke to reporters through an interpreter.
"Bolsonaro said I was not a leader, but it is he who is no
leader and should go," Raoni, 89, said at the news conference to
chants of "Raoni yes, Bolsonaro no".
Raoni, an unmistakable Amazon icon with large lip plate,
yellow macaw-feather headdress and bead necklaces, became known
internationally as an environmental campaigner in the 1980s with
musician Sting at his side.
The Kayapo chief has become the symbol of the fight to stop
deforestation in the Amazon and a group of environmentalists and
anthropologists put his name forward as a candidate for the 2020
Nobel Peace Prize for his lifetime defense of the forest.
In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on
Tuesday, Bolsonaro took a swipe at Raoni as he rebuffed
criticism of his slow response to combating fires in the
rainforest and stated the Amazon was not part of a world
heritage.
"Indigenous leaders like Chief Raoni are often used as pawns
by foreign governments in their media war to advance their
interests in the Amazon," Bolsonaro said.
Bolsonaro wants to develop the Amazon and assimilate its
indigenous people by allowing mining and farming on their
reserves. At the UN he accused NGOs of wanting to keep the
Amazon tribes living like "cavemen."
Raoni made it clear his people want to continue living as
they always have on the ancestral lands that are increasingly
under threat of invasions by illegal loggers, miners and land
grabbers since Bolsonaro took office in January.
"My concern is for the environment. Today everyone is
worried. My work is to preserve the forest for all, for the
survival of my grandchildren, the reservation lands, the
indigenous peoples and the environment."
Leftist PSOL party leader Ivan Valente said indigenous
resistance was a roadblock to Bolsonaro's plans to open up the
Amazon to development.
"He is a national hero and known abroad as the greatest
defender of the forest," Valente said.
"That is why they fear the name Raoni," he said.