The Arns Commission, along with more than 70 nonprofits, including the Articulation of Brazilian Indigenous Peoples, Conectas Human Rights, Greenpeace Brazil, the Vladimir Herzog Institute, and the Washington Brazil Office, sent a letter to US President Joe Biden. On the occasion of holding the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles and meeting with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The document was delivered this Tuesday (06/07) and its receipt has been confirmed by the White House.
See the full Portuguese version of the letter:
His Excellency President Joe Biden,
As Brazilian NGOs, we are concerned that President Jair Bolsonaro is using his meeting with His Excellency to falsely claim that his government supports his attacks on democracy, free and fair elections, the environment, science, fundamental human rights and the Amazon.
Mr. President Joe Biden, the man you invited into a private conversation, curses the critical values most Americans value. While Mr. seeks prudent gun control in the US, Bolsonaro brings more guns to Brazilian society and encourages paramilitary groups; While pandemic policies aimed to embrace science, Bolsonaro has been hostile to the use of masks and vaccines – especially for children; In electing the first black female vice president, the first indigenous secretary of the interior ministry, and the first black woman to the Supreme Court of Justice, Bolsonaro filled his cabinet with white supremacists and personally compared Afro-Brazilians to cattle. Advocating love and inclusion as a man, Bolsonaro encouraged physical violence against the LGBTQIA+ community.
Currently, inflation, hunger, violence and deforestation are rapidly increasing in Brazil. Instead of getting his country out of the crisis, Bolsonaro is launching a coup. It attacks our Supreme Court and lays the groundwork to discredit the upcoming elections and kill democracy in Latin America’s largest country. We are preparing for the January 6 version of Bolsonaro if he loses re-election. We understand your ambitions to unite America through the Summit, especially in light of the crisis in Europe. But we are sending you this letter to encourage you to resolutely defend democracy, free and fair elections, climate action and fundamental protection of the rainforest during your meeting.
If Brazilian democracy falls, Mr. Mr. President, your efforts to “Build a Sustainable, Resilient and Equitable Future” at the Americas Summit will be in vain. Likewise, the continuation of Bolsonaro’s government will doom the Amazon Jungle and its peoples, ending the few chances the world still has to keep the 1.5ºC target alive.
Any agreement with Brazil on the Amazon must involve civil society. Negotiations are expected to progress only if Brazil demonstrates its determination to protect the forest, reduce deforestation rates and halt political efforts to weaken environmental laws through the various bills supported by Bolsonaro. We hope that your values and principles will guide you to make the best decisions for the future of democracy, cooperation, peace, friendship and freedom on our continent.
source: Noticias
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