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think- ago

The allegations against the new minister, Damares Alves:

Since the Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights, Damares Alves was apppointed by the government of President Jair Bolsonaro, a wound afflicted 5 years ago burned again in the Xingu. [Xingu = native Brazilean tribe]

The Kamayurá village, in the center of the Indian reservation in the north of Mato Grosso, is the birthplace of 20-year-old Kajutiti Lulu Kamayurá. Damares presents her as her adopted daughter.

The adoption, however, was never formalized legally. The condition in which the 6-year-old girl was taken from the village is a source of controversy among the Indians.

Lulu was born on May 20, 1998, according to her birth record. Epoch went to the Xingu to hear of the kamayurás the story of the girl who was raised by her paternal grandmother, Tanumakaru, a lady with cracked, blind eye.

They claim that Damares took the girl irregularly from the tribe. Some details are lost in the memory of the Indians, but there is a thread that unites the report of all of them.

Lulu left the village under pretense of doing a dental treatment in the city and never returned. They say that Damares and Márcia Suzuki, friend and right-hand man of the minister, presented themselves as missionaries in the village. They said they were worried about the girl's oral health.

"I cried, and Lulu was crying too for leaving her grandmother. Marcia led the way. He said he was going to send her back, that when he went on vacation he would send her here."

Asked if she knew, at the time of Lulu's departure, that she would not return, she was straightforward:" Never."

Minister Damares Alves (...) said she was "prepared to answer the questions ... about our children, about my daughter and about families."

In Brasilia, however, she refused to give an interview and only partially answered the magazine's 14 questions.

"All the rights of Lulu Kamayurá were respected. No law was violated. Her biological family visits her regularly.

Uncles, cousins ​​and brothers who left with her from the village reside in Brasilia. Everyone has an excellent emotional relationship."

We asked why Damares did not return the child to the village after treatment. "Lulu Kamayura has already returned to the village. She left the place with her family and never lost touch with her biological relatives."

The question of not having formally adopted Lulu was ignored.

Damares's advisor says the minister met Lulu in Brasilia, not the village, as the Indians say."

https://epoca.globo.com/a-historia-de-lulu-kamayura-india-criada-como-filha-pela-ministra-damares-alves-23416132

sore_ass_losers ago

Thanks for posting this. So this minister is accused of being a client of indigenous child trafficking networks, you might say, in adopting an indigenous child.

SB was an anarchist, so a lefty I imagine, but I take her son's comments to mean she was more concerned about abuse than politics.

I've wondered if Bolsonaro is an analogue of Trump could all this publicity and arrest of JoD represent a 'draining of the swamp'? JoD was previously a national treasure. However the connection here is that one of Bolsonaro's ministers might have done something shady.

think- ago

So this minister is accused of being a client of indigenous child trafficking networks, you might say, in adopting an indigenous child.

Not so much a client I suppose, more like a bad actor herself.

SB was an anarchist, so a lefty I imagine

Yep, she was a leftie, and I don't agree with all of her political views, but this isn't about party politics. She is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and also of rape by a stranger, she dedicated her life to fight perps.

I've wondered if Bolsonaro is an analogue of Trump could all this publicity and arrest of JoD represent a 'draining of the swamp'?

1) I don't believe that Trump is 'draining the swamp', not in the sense of taking elite pedos down. (I'm non-partisan, and not into Q).

2) Bolsonero is an asshole imo.

3) It seems that the MP of the state John of God has been operating in supports the investigation. Not sure whether he just pretends, or might be genuine.

@SandHog

SandHog ago

I'm way behind on this particular case and am not up to speed on the major players but from the little I have read it seems like quite the extensive trafficking ring. I suspect the investigation will get derailed or stonewalled at some point by corrupt or complicit officials but hopefully it doesn't. Looks like there are tons of leads that need to be followed up on like where were the children being trafficked to? Were they sending them to a hub in another country and then disseminating them from there?

Maybe those answers are already known and I am just not aware. I haven't had a chance to dig into this yet.

think- ago

Maybe those answers are already known and I am just not aware.

The only thing we know is that some of the 'guides' in Europe, the US, and Australia, who offered tours to Brazil, seem to have been involved in the trafficking ring.

And sadly, I think you're right, that the investigation might be stonewalled at some point.

sore_ass_losers ago

Whoa, the guides were involved with the trafficking ring? I missed that part.

I actually spent some time researching guides websites. I guess they need to find a new line of work now.

A comment on CDAN says it's two airplane flights and a 6-hour bus ride to the Casa. (Perhaps the first flight mentioned would be to nearby capital city Brasilia.) I was wondering if there's a VIP version (probably charter a helicopter). I was also musing, and this is pure speculation, if there could be VIP tours with an afternoon at the baby farm.

think- ago

Whoa, the guides were involved with the trafficking ring?

Yep. I bet some are busy covering up their past actions now. But I have no idea which guys were involved.

I guess they need to find a new line of work now.

Well, I read that the Casa staff has been trying to convince people to come to Brazil nevertheless.