Pope Francis met Wednesday with a pacesetter of Brazil’s Yanomami people, who asked for papal backing for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ’s efforts to reverse a long time of exploitation of the Amazon and higher protect its Indigenous peoples.
Davi Kopenawa, a Yanomami shaman, said he got here to the Vatican at Francis’ invitation to temporary him on the plight of the Yanomami and the Amazon, where deforestation surged to a 15-year high throughout the previous administration of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. The Yanomami Indigenous Territory, Brazil’s largest, was ravaged by hundreds of illegal gold miners spurred on by Bolsonaro. They felled trees and poisoned waterways with mercury.
Kopenawa, who wore a conventional feathered headdress and beads around his neck, told reporters afterward he gave Francis a letter laying out the concerns of the Yanomami. He said he asked for Francis to support Lula to attempt to fix the previous government’s “error” and that Francis said he would speak with him.
“I’m not going to say they are going to fix it, I’m not going to say they are going to solve it. To smash things it is simple, to sort things it’s difficult. But they are attempting,” Kopenawa said in Portuguese.
“I’m a person of our forest who takes care of our planet Earth, I’m waiting for the international community to fight, I’m waiting for the international community that has money, to do it, to stop the destruction of our planet Earth which is occurring now.”
The Amazon rainforest, covering an area twice the scale of India, is an important buffer against climate change. Studies have shown that Indigenous-controlled forests are the best-preserved within the Brazilian Amazon.
But Bolsonaro made good on his pledge to not demarcate a single additional inch of Indigenous territory during his tenure, and defanged environmental enforcement agencies. Deforestation surged to a 15-year high on his watch.
Lula took office and swiftly declared a public health emergency in Yanomami lands as a result of the consequences of illegal mining and commenced working to expel the miners. He also empowered environmental agencies to crack down on illegal logging. In January, government satellite data showed that deforestation had fallen by half in the primary yr of Lula’s term.
Government officials have said that areas with illegal mining inside Yanomami territory have dropped 85% and health has improved. But after the initial success, prosecutors, law enforcement and employees of federal environmental agencies say illegal miners are returning.
“One person alone cannot solve all the things. That is why I asked for support,” Kopenawa said. “I asked the pope to support him, to strengthen the work. To defend the people.”
History’s first Latin American pope has made caring for the environment, especially the Amazon, an indicator of his papacy. Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Praised Be” lashed out on the unbridled exploitation of the Amazon, accusing wealthy interests of turning Earth into “an immense pile of filth.”
In 2019, the Argentine Jesuit convened a special meeting of bishops, or synod, specifically on the Amazon to higher understand how the Catholic Church can higher minister to its peoples and protect them.
The Vatican didn’t provide an official read-out of the meeting, consistent with protocol. But in an indication of unofficial support, it did organize an off-the-cuff media briefing with Kopenawa within the lobby of the Vatican Radio headquarters after the audience.
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Associated Press writers David Biller in Rio de Janeiro, Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal and Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain contributed.
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