The Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) denounced via Twitter on Tuesday that the treatment received by the government during a meeting on the COVID-19 pandemic was "disastrous, humiliating, and embarrassing."
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The first meeting took place on July 17 to discuss the approach of the government to the critical situation of Indigenous communities after more than 500 people have died of COVID-19 so far, according to APIB figures.
On June 30, the organization went to court to appeal that the government of Jair Bolsonaro take measures to protect the Indigenous population against the pandemic. The petition, signed by 305 indigenous communities, most of them settled in the Brazilian Amazon, urged the government of the far-right leader to implement sanitary barriers in their territories, as well as put in practice an emergency plan to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result, the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court, Luis Roberto Barroso, has ordered the creation of a "crisis cabinet" to reach agreements on tackling the pandemic.
However, following the firsts conversations APIB said that the Minister of the Institutional Security Office (GSI) Augusto Heleno, made "highly conflictive" comments as he made it clear that the government will only serve indigenous people who are on demarcated lands, and whoever is not will be treated as a "rural producer".
Após o ministro do STF Roberto Barroso cobrar do Governo Federal medidas de proteção aos povos indígenas durante a pandemia, ocorreu um primeiro encontro entre integrantes da Apib e do governo. Porém, a entidade denuncia "um tratamento desastroso, humilhante e constrangedor". pic.twitter.com/J0XTMtmOin
— APIB oficial (@ApibOficial) July 21, 2020
"After STF Minister Roberto Barroso demanded from the federal government measures to protect indigenous peoples during a pandemic, there was the first meeting between members of the Apib and the government. However, the entity denounces "disastrous, humiliating and embarrassing treatment".
The organization has explained that "the disease affects every day thousands of indigenous people in the region who live in and outside traditional territories."
The APIB also denounced that government officials tried to "attack them and try to intimidate them, with a discriminatory speech and incitement to hatred against their peoples." This in response to the virtual hearing promoted by the Chamber of Deputies that was held on July 15, when representatives of the Indigenous people called the massive deaths due to the COVID-19 as a "genocide."
Despite the government's response, the APIB is summoning the Indigenous peoples of the southern region of Brazil for a meeting on July 24 to create a regional plan for the emergency confrontation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the organization explains on its Twitter account, the initiative that will take place "is linked to the Indigenous Emergency Plan of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil, which seeks to pressure the Federal Government to perform its role and seek short, medium and long-term solutions to violations suffered by indigenous people during a pandemic."