Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 6 February 2020
Tiny indigenous land highlights Brazil's environmental woes

By MAURICIO SAVARESE problems with the builder's
Associated Press environmental licenses.
SAO PAULO (AP) — Their Earlier, builder Tenda said it
bodies painted black, doz- had carried out all required
ens of members the Brazil's procedures to begin the
Guarani Mbya tribe lift their housing project and felled
hands and sing a mourning only "isolated trees." Follow-
song for hundreds of felled ing repeated requests from
trees beside their village. the AP, Tenda didn't make
They weep, chant and per- anyone available for an in-
form funeral rites for a lost terview.
patch of forest on the edge Tribal leaders are con-
of Latin America's biggest cerned that the roughly
city. 500 trees felled over the
People in the tribe rushed to past week is just the start,
the site, at the base of Sao and that more trees will be
Paulo's Jaraguá Peak, as cut. The indigenous group
soon as they heard chain- worries that amount of de-
saws toppling trees on Jan. forestation could dry up a
30. Some wore feathered spring that's important for
headdresses and held ar- local fishing.
rows in clenched fists. The A police officer asks David Karai, a leader within the Guarani Mbya indigenous tribe, for his group The Guarani Mbya officially
display alarmed construc- to leave the property where real estate developer Tenda cut trees to make way for apartment gained claim to their land,
tion company employees, buildings, next to the indigenous community's land in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. an area smaller than two
who called the police and Associated Press soccer pitches beside Sao
sought refuge in a shack Paulo's tallest hill, in 1987.
nearby. working for Mayor Bruno in Brazil's Amazon, indig- no one from the agency, While Tenda isn't building
"Two employees of the Covas, a former state en- enous groups face grow- known as Funai, supported on the indigenous territory,
company came in De- vironment secretary who is ing pressure from business them after they informed Sao Paulo city councilman
cember to tell us not to be running for reelection this interests including loggers, about the construction. Gilberto Natalini says grant-
scared about the chain- year. miners, farmers and cattle Funai said Tuesday that offi- ing permission to build near
saws," tribal leader David Until the 1950s, the tribe ranchers. The developers cials visited the site recent- the tribe and in a forested
Fernandes told The Associ- wandered in the Jaraguá have found a steadfast ly. In a statement the agen- region still is a "disgrace"
ated Press. "There's no city region, an area of Atlan- advocate in President Jair cy said the cutting of trees and a sign of greed.
here. There's just forest. How tic forest. Decades later, Bolsonaro, who has often was suspended for 20 days "In Brazil, the order now is
can the authorities give a li- the village they settled in said indigenous people following an agreement destroy in order to make
cense to build here? There was recognized by the and their land cannot be a between indigenous lead- money," Natalini said, walk-
has been no dialogue. It Brazil government but also hindrance to development ers and the construction ing amidst fallen trunks. "It's
is our right to have a say encroached upon by the and national sovereignty. company. It did not com- a very bad moment for our
about what impacts us." sprawling metropolis. The Brazil's president has no ment on whether it had environment."
Tree-cutting has been sus- tension between a builder say in awarding the con- consulted the indigenous Bolsonaro has said indig-
pended, at least temporar- with projects in nine Brazil- structor the permits to build residents before tree-felling enous people should be
ily. But workers still hope to ian states and a 40-fam- near Guarani Mbya land. began. integrated into society,
get back to building five ily indigenous community But tribal leaders argue the Sao Paulo's city hall said and also that they them-
high-rise apartment blocks -- the smallest by area in federal indigenous affairs Tuesday night that con- selves desire modern con-
for low-income residents. all Brazil at 4.2 acres (1.7 agency did not consult struction at the site will be veniences. He has likened
Sao Paulo's city hall said it hectares) -- is a microcosm them on potential impacts, halted for seven days so the those living within pro-
had awarded licenses to of what's playing out else- as required by law, which indigenous people have tected areas to animals
build there. where in the country. would halt the licensing more time to provide any trapped in a zoo, angering
They were given by officials Farther afield, particularly process. They also said evidence that there are human rights activists. q

President upsets Mexicans with plan to end long weekends

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexi- year, to allow Mexicans you'll never know where esno — roughly, "don't mess live in a country with some
can President Andrés Man- three continuous days off. you are going," López Ob- with long weekends" — be- of the longest working
uel López Obrador has That is similar to the U.S. rador said. "For us, history came the number one hours, where a large num-
floated a strikingly unpop- practice of celebrating is fundamental, it is life's trending topic on Twitter in ber of people spend an
ular proposal to end the Memorial Day or Washing- teacher." Mexico. One user posted hour getting to work, and
practice of creating long ton's birthday on the near- So López Obrador said a photo of a handshake the long weekends provide
weekends by moving na- est Monday. that by the start of the next between hands labelled a break."
tional holidays around. López Obrador said it is school year, in August or "conservatives" and "pro- It is not the first time López
López Obrador is a student a bad practice because September, he will insist gressives," with the saying: Obrador's proposals have
of Mexican history, and it led people to forget that holidays be celebrat- "Today there are no divi- polarized Mexico. His deci-
he was irked because few what they were celebrat- ed on their actual historical sions, today we are all unit- sion to avoid confrontations
people appeared to re- ing, even though he ac- date. ed, don't mess with long with drug cartels, cancel a
member that Wednesday knowledged the three-day That drew waves of disap- weekends." partly built airport project,
is the anniversary of the weekends were popular. proval on social media, Isra Piatrov reflected the build new oil refineries and
Feb. 5, 1917 adoption of "I know this is going to be where Twitter users be- feelings of many in Mexico raffle off the presidential jet
the country's Constitution. controversial, but I believe moaned losing their long — where many still work a have angered many con-
The official holiday was that, if you don't know weekends. 48-hour week — when he servatives.
moved to Monday this where you come from, The hashtag #conlospuent- wrote on Twitter that "we q