Lower House approves urgency regime for bill 191, which authorizes mining in indigenous lands

By 279 to 180 votes, the Chamber of Deputies approved the urgency request for the bill 191/2020 (PL 191/2020), which authorizes industrial mining and large enterprises, such as hydroelectric plants and commodities plantations, in Indigenous Lands. With this, the proposal gains priority and should be voted on in the first half of April.

The request was forwarded by the government leader in the House, congressman Ricardo Barros (PP-PR), and put on the agenda by the president of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), while thousands of people gathered outside in the Protest for Earth [Ato pela Terra], summoned by the singer Caetano Veloso, against bills that affect the Brazilian environmental policy.

For the opposition, this is an unconstitutional bill that seriously violates the rights of the indigenous population. In an interview with Pública, congresswoman Joenia Wapichana (Rede-RR), the only indigenous federal representative, said that the proposal is a summary of Bolsonaro’s agenda. “Everything that he [Bolsonaro] dreamed of in regards to exploring the indigenous lands is in this bill.”