There wasn’t even time to replace the huge windows on the facade of the imposing Planalto Palace, which the radical Bolsonaristas smashed with stones last Sunday, but this Wednesday afternoon the headquarters of the Brazilian Presidency spruced up as best they could and had a rehearsal held to return to normality to welcome the inauguration of two ministers: Sonia Guajajara, who is making history as Minister of the recently created Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, and Anielle Franco, sister of the assassinated Marielle Franco and sending a strong message as the new Minister for Racial Equality. The ceremony that began his tenure came amid tight security measures that defused the threat of fresh Bolsonaro marches. By the end of the afternoon, the picture was of a devastating contrast: in front of the palace, dozens of military green riot police; inside, a particularly diverse array of guests featured indigenous leaders in ornate feather headdresses, banging their maracas in celebration of their historic rise to power.
Brazil is opening an unprecedented ministry for indigenous peoples and will have an indigenous minister for the first time. Guajajara, a renowned activist who now surrounds herself with a 100% indigenous team, stressed the urgency of protecting indigenous lands and the environment in her speech, but didn’t overlook what happened a few years ago in the Brazilian capital. days. Quoting her fellow Minister Franco, she announced: “We call on all women of Brazil to say together: we will never again allow a coup in our country,” immediately joining the screams of the hundreds of guests who begged for it no amnesty for arrested putschists. The new minister assumed it would not be easy “to overcome 522 years in four years” but said she was ready to fight “to regain the ancestral strength” of the Brazilian soul and spirit. “Never again a Brazil without us,” he said.
Brazil’s new Minister for Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, takes office. André Borges (EFE)
The indigenous people of Brazil, about 800,000 people, inhabit 12% of the territory of this country of 210 million people. Anielle Franco was visibly moved when she remembered her sister Marielle, the Rio de Janeiro city councilor who was brutally murdered in 2018. “I have dedicated every minute of my life to fighting for justice, defending memory, increasing my sister’s legacy and watering my sister’s seed,” the minister said. He promised to strengthen the quota law that reserves places at public universities for poor and black students, increase the number of black officials in decision-making positions, and relaunch the plan to reduce mortality among black youth, including most of the victims of the 50,000 murders that Brazil adds on average every year.
The ceremony that concluded the inauguration of the 37 ministers was full of symbolic moments, starting with the interpretation of the national anthem sung in the language of the Ticuna, the largest indigenous people of the Brazilian Amazon, or the sound of the drums of the rituals of the religions of the African matrix. In the end, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed to applaud a law proposed years ago that would increase penalties for cases of racism.
Among the guests at the event, a large part of the black and indigenous movement in Brazil, faces of satisfaction and relief: “What we have seen is life in this palace. There are children, there are old people, sweat, tears. Life pulsates,” said Maria Flor Guerreira, an indigenous Tapaxó ethnic group, emotionally. She was at the vigil that she accompanied Lula for more than 500 days when he was imprisoned in Curitiba and now she intends to move to Brasilia to accompany him in government because she believes that the next four years won’t be easy. To prove what happened on Sunday. “With Lula, it’s like we planted a deciduous tree, but now it has to bear fruit. You have to water it and give it good fertilizer.” On the Plaza de los Tres Poderes, while hopeful guests left the palace, the reddish and blue lights of National Guard vehicles alert to possible Bolsonaro marches served as a reminder of the upcoming challenges.
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