Brazil’s Lula pledges to create Indigenous ministry, halt illegal gold prospecting

By Bala Chambers

LONDON (AA) - Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva pledged Monday to create an Indigenous ministry and to stop illegal gold prospecting if he is elected in October.

Lula, a left-wing candidate for the Workers Party (PT) and a former two-time president, also promised to "recover" the Ibama environmental agency, which he said has been "dismantled" since President Jair Bolsonaro assumed office in January 2019.

"I need people to know once and for all that our Indigenous people are the majority and that they are going to take care of the Amazon with much more strength if they had the authority to take care of it," Lula told foreign journalists in Sao Paulo.

The Brazilian frontrunner pledged to fully stop illegal gold prospectors from operating on indigenous lands in the Amazon, with the figures increasing during Bolsonaro's tenure.

"We are going to put an end to illegal mining," said Lula. "This has to become not just a law, but almost a profession of faith. We don't need to cut down a single tree to plant soy, corn, sugar cane or raise cattle."

Lula also stressed the need for a "new global geopolitics" when it came to globally addressing the issue of climate change.

The former union leader also stressed the need to involve all Amazonian nations in discussions concerning "the preservation of forests and biodiversity" while he said he would welcome international help to combat deforestation.

When it came to safeguarding the Amazon rainforest within Brazil, Lula promised to bolster Brazil's federal police and strengthen borders to tackle organized crime.

The Brazilian politician also paid tribute to murdered Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips, describing their killings as "a barbarity, the kind of which should no longer occur in Brazil."

Despite Bolsonaro's unsupported and repeated claims over potential electoral fraud, Lula believes "the election result will be accepted without any kind of questioning.”

In mid-August, both Lula and Bolsonaro officially began their presidential campaigns.

Bolsonaro has pushed what he has called the "good" versus "evil" campaign narrative in reference to the opposition alongside conservative Christian and family values.

Lula has focused on the issue of hunger during Bolsonaro's tenure and the impact of inflation hitting families hard as he has pledged to "rebuild" Brazil.​​​​​​​

The October election will be the first since Bolsonaro took office as fears persist of potential political violence if the results are contested.