We, leaders and warriors, are here in our movement, determined to continue our blockade of the ferry crossing on the Xingu River. As long as Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva continues to insist on building the Belo Monte dam, we will remain here. We were outraged to hear Lula say that he will build Belo Monte by any means, even by using force!!!
Now, we Indigenous Peoples, people who voted for Lula, know what kind of person he is. We are not criminals, nor are we drug traffickers, meriting this kind of treatment; we simply do not want the construction of the Belo Monte dam. We have no weapons to face armed forces and if Lula wants to do away with us as he has proven willing to do the entire world will know that we will die while fighting for our rights.
We face a government that each day shows its hostility to us Indigenous Peoples. Lula has proven to be enemy number one of Indigenous Peoples, and Marcio Meira, the current President of the FUNAI (Brazil’s Bureau of Indian Affairs) has proven to be the second most opposed to Indigenous Peoples in Brazil, because FUNAI no longer handles indigenous affairs, doesn’t ensure the demarcation of Indigenous lands, nor legalize Indigenous lands. Our Indigenous leaders have been denied entrance into FUNAI’s Brasilia headquarters by the national police.
What is happening to us Indigenous people a result of gross neglect, because we Indigenous peoples are the first inhabitants of this country and are being forgotten by the Lula government, which seeks our destruction. We have arrived at this conclusion.
Chief Megaron Txukarramãe
