Lula exonerates Funai soldiers in AM, after declaring an emergency on Yanomami land

exoneration

The demilitarization of Funai came after the Federal Government declared an emergency in the Yanomami territory

Manaus (AM) – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) dismissed, on Monday night (23), all coordinators of the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) in Amazonas. The agency’s units in the interior municipalities and in Manaus were headed, for the most part, by military personnel. The demilitarization of Funai came after the Federal Government declared an emergency in the Yanomami territory.

The changes in Funai positions throughout the country were published in the Official Gazette (DOU) with the signature of the Civil House Minister Rui Costa. In all, 38 names were exonerated, and five dismissed, among which, 18 were military.

In Manaus, Funai’s coordination was commanded by lieutenant colonel Francisco de Souza Castro who was also exonerated, along with the coordinator of Alto Rio Negro, in the municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, 852 kilometers from Manaus, sub-lieutenant Feliciano Borges Neto , and the coordinator of Alto Solimões, in the municipality of Tabatinga, 1,106 kilometers from the capital, Marine Jorge Gerson Baruf.

Also exonerated was the coordinator of the Médio Purus, in the municipality of Lábrea, 700 kilometers from Manaus, Fernando Queiroz de Freitas. With the changes at Funai, Minister Rui Costa continues with the exchange of commissioned advisors from the federal administration, a movement that became known as “debolsonarização”. According to him, this will happen in all ministries, regardless of whether they are military or civil.

“You have been following, since we took office, a large number of people changing, and this will continue. And you will see these more intense exchanges from the 23rd, when I would say that the key is turned in the system so that the new ministries start to exist in the electronic and digital systems of the government”, said Rui Costa, after a meeting at the Ministry of Defense .

emergency state

The mass exoneration from Funai positions came shortly after President Lula visited the Yanomami community. According to information from the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, around 500 indigenous children of the Yanomami people died of mercury contamination and hunger in the last four years of the Bolsonaro administration. Ministry data point to mining as the cause of the situation of the Yanomami.

The state of insecurity and health calamity of the Yanomami people has already been denounced by various indigenous leaders and social movements. To Em Tempo, the Yanomami indigenous leader, Dário Kopenawa, said that the Hutukara association had already filed complaints with public bodies, during the Bolsonaro government, to curb illegal mining in Yanomami lands.

“We forwarded the complaints to the Federal Public Ministry, the Army, Funai, IBAMA, the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Supreme Court. The government [Bolsonaro] I already had the knowledge

stated.

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