International pressure affects Senate timeframe vote

International pressure on legislative guidelines and actions by the Brazilian government has intensified. The most recent episode took place with the vote on the bill that provides for the establishment of a time frame for the demarcation of indigenous lands in Brazil. Deputies from countries such as Germany and representatives of the European Parliament manifested themselves in letters to the Federal Senate after the approval of the project in the Chamber of Deputies. Addressed to the President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), the letters express “concern” with the possibility of approval of the timeframe in the House.

The text reached the Senate, after being approved by the Chamber of Deputies, on June 1. Faced with international pressure and parliamentarians opposed to the proposal, however, the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, signaled that the procedure will follow the normal rite, with “caution and prudence”.

For senator Plínio Valério (PSDB-AM), president of the CPI of NGOs, the letters from European deputies are a “total disrespect”. “It shows the arrogance of these people who keep insisting and wanting to treat us like a colony. That’s why we are preaching that our fight is against the colony nation. .

Furthermore, Valerius believes that accepting the letter from the European parliamentarians would be shameful for the Senate. “If it depends on my protest, he will not give in to pressure. We have to protest against this, say that it is wrong and that we do not accept it. Hence the urgent need for our CPI of the NGOs, because we are going to show that they do this already in the middle of the bush”, said the Amazonian senator.

Senators want the time frame project to be analyzed by more committees

Although Pacheco has dispatched the project for the timeframe for analysis by two Senate committees, Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (CRA) and Constitution, Justice and Citizenship (CCJ), there are senators who want the matter to be analyzed by more committees. This is the case of Senator Fabiano Contarato (PT-ES) who submitted a request for the proposal to also be processed by the Commission on Human Rights and Participatory Legislation (CDH) and the Commission on the Environment (CMA).

Contarato, unlike Valério, agrees with the European parliamentarians and reinforces the arguments presented by them. “What NGOs and European leaders have been saying is what I have been saying since the beginning of the debate and the progress of the time frame bill: the proposal is an attempt to annihilate indigenous peoples. Much more than the withdrawal of legitimate rights, it is an attack on the original peoples, historically violated and expelled from their lands”, said the capixaba senator.

The petista also highlighted the importance of giving answers to the world about the timeframe project. “By saying no to the timeframe, Brazil will demonstrate to the world that it has stopped going back and violating the peoples who are the origin of our history”, he said.