For Indigenous defenders of Brazil’s rainforests, ‘Lula is our only hope’
LA TimesOver the last four years, Wenatoa Parakana has watched the rainforest her ancestors fiercely defended being cut down at a breakneck pace. “They’re invading our land,” said Wenatoa, a 32-year-old community leader, as she stood outside the cooking hut in her village in the Apyterewa Indigenous reserve. “They are toppling trees, planting soybeans.” An Indigenous boy bathes in the Xingu River in Piaracu village, in Brazil’s Mato Grosso state. “It would send a message, not only to Indigenous people, but to anyone worried about the environment,” said Celia Xakriaba, a newly elected Indigenous congresswoman and member of Lula’s transition team. “Because if they are approved, it will bury the possibility of Lula fulfilling his promises on deforestation.” With Brazil facing a gaping deficit amid a painful economic slowdown, Lula will also need to look abroad for fresh sources of cash to fund conservation efforts, while convincing lawmakers to remove fiscal barriers that bar him from spending beyond the country’s budget.
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