Deputies want to hear from Lula’s minister about the crisis on Marajó Island

After new reports of child sexual exploitation in Marajó came to light, federal deputies demanded explanations and information from the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), about what has been done to contain crimes in the region.

Federal deputy Julia Zanatta (PL-SC) filed a request for information addressed to the Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship, Silvio Almeida, to find out about actions, interventions and occurrences related to sexual abuse, human trafficking and other crimes in the region from Ilha do Marajó, in the State of Pará.

“Recently, several allegations of exploitation, sexual abuse and organ trafficking, allegedly occurring in the Marajó Archipelago, State of Pará, have resurfaced, which have had a great impact both in the Legislative Houses and in the media”, highlights the parliamentarian in the request.

The request was presented after the repercussion of a song by singer Aymeê with the title “Evangelho de fariseus” which mentions social and environmental problems on the Amazon island. The singer also made the following statement when participating in the program “Dom Reality”: “Marajó is an island a few minutes from Belém, my homeland. And there is a lot of organ trafficking there. That’s normal there. There is hard-level pedophilia.”

The deputy demands information about the program Marajó Citizenship , which was launched by the current government, “to combat the abuse and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents and promote human rights and access to public policies in the Marajó Archipelago”. It also requests information on the number of reports of human rights violations in general, abuse and sexual exploitation that have been registered in recent years, in addition to actions to combat them.

Other deputies also demand information from the PT government, and try to schedule an audience with the minister for further explanations on the matter. A summons request was presented by deputies Messias Donato (Republicanos-ES), Coronel Meira (PL-PE), among others.

“In view of the new and alarming allegations of sexual exploitation and child trafficking on Marajó Island, made by the singer, we understand that this is a case of extreme urgency. It is worth remembering that Senator Damares Alves, in 2022, at the time Minister of the Bolsonaro Government, had already warned about this situation and had been combating these actions, but was ridiculed on social media by left-wing activists and Lula supporters.”, recalled Meira.

In the summons request, the deputies emphasize that Silvio Almeida “has a duty to combat these serious violations”. “We need to guarantee an effective response, protect the rights of victims and hold the perpetrators of these heinous and abominable crimes accountable”, highlighted Congressman Messias Donato, president of the Parliamentary Front to Combat the Precocious Sexualization of Children and Adolescents.

In 2022, the People’s Gazette showed that cases of sexual exploitation and pedophilia have been investigated for decades in the region and were the subject of an investigation initiated at the request of the Human Rights and Minorities Commission (CDHM) of the Chamber of Deputies, in 2006.