Hélio Lopes rejects historical reparation and criticizes black movement

Federal deputy Hélio Lopes (PL-RJ) stated that he rejects the incentive for public policies aimed at historical reparation for the descendants of black people enslaved in Brazil. For the parliamentarian, the movement’s actions “are not for the cause, they are for the vote”. This Monday (20), Black Awareness Day is celebrated.

“What happened cannot be changed. But this repair [histórica]… I think it’s a mistake,” he said in an interview with the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper, released this Sunday (19).

Being one of the main allies of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Hélio was elected for the first time in 2018, being the most voted in Rio de Janeiro with 345 thousand votes at the polls,

“When I was the most voted in Rio de Janeiro, did anyone from the black movement make a note? ‘Congratulations, future deputy Hélio, you represent our color’. They did not. But a little time passed and there was a group here saying that I had to represent the black movement”, declared Hélio.

The parliamentarian was also critical of the recently created black bench in the Chamber of Deputies.

“I am against the construction of the black movement, but that the black movement exists and that it is happy defending its agendas. I don’t want them to defend my agenda. I’m against it, but I respect that everyone comes together and fights for goals. But it doesn’t have to be implanted here in me that I have to think like them,” he said.

Because he is close to the former president, he also commented that he had suffered racial attacks. “I want to see the black bench speak out when I take my processes and send them to them. If I were a black leftist I would have a lot of people arrested. The fight of the black movement is not for color, it is not for the cause, it is for the vote”, stated the parliamentarian.