Brazil's Yanomami leader asks the Pope to support Lula in reversing damage to the Amazon
WLRN 91.3 FM | By The Associated Press
Published April 11, 2024 at 3:50 PM EDT
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis met Wednesday with a leader of Brazil’s Yanomami people, who asked for papal backing for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ’s efforts to reverse decades of exploitation of the Amazon and better protect its Indigenous peoples.
Davi Kopenawa, a Yanomami shaman, said he came to the Vatican at Francis’ invitation to brief him on the plight of the Yanomami and the Amazon, where deforestation surged to a 15-year high during the previous administration of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. The Yanomami Indigenous Territory, Brazil's largest, was ravaged by thousands of illegal gold miners spurred on by Bolsonaro. They felled trees and poisoned waterways with mercury.
Kopenawa, who wore a traditional 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 try to fix the previous government’s “error” and that Francis said he would speak with him.
“I’m not going to say they will fix it, I’m not going to say they will solve it. To ruin things it is easy, to fix things it is difficult. But they are trying,” Kopenawa said in Portuguese.
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https://www.wlrn.org/americas/2024-04-11/brazils-yanomami-leader-asks-the-pope-to-support-lula-in-reversing-damage-to-the-amazon