The Justice Ministry awarded President Jair Bolsonaro Brazil’s “medal of indigenous merit” Wednesday, drawing criticism for granting the honor to a leader that indigenous groups accuse of “genocide” and “ecocide.”
Justice Minister Anderson Torres awarded the medal to his boss and 25 other honorees “in recognition of their significant altruistic service for the well-being, protection and defense of indigenous communities,” said a decree published in the official gazette.
Torres also granted the medal to himself, Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina, Infrastructure Minister Tarcisio Gomes and Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto.
The announcement drew sharp criticism from indigenous leaders, many of whom accuse Bolsonaro of trying to force native peoples from their lands, promoting environmental destruction and allowing rampant deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
“Absurd,” said Sonia Guajajara, national coordinator of the Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (APIB).
“As if all the setbacks we’re facing weren’t enough, this barbaric dis-government has now created another: a medal of merit to Jair Bolsonaro and his allies for their ‘significant’ services to indigenous peoples,” she tweeted.
Her organization brought a case against Bolsonaro before the International Criminal Court last year for his “anti-indigenous policies,” accusing the far-right president of “genocide” and “ecocide.”
Indigenous groups have staged massive protests against Bolsonaro since he took office in 2019 over his push to restrict the creation of new indigenous reservations, a surge in deforestation and fires in the Amazon, and his bid to legalize mining on indigenous lands.
Brazil is home to around a million indigenous people, about 0.5 percent of the country’s population.
The medal of indigenous merit had in the past traditionally been awarded to academics such as anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro or indigenous leaders such as iconic chief and environmental activist Raoni Matuktire.
