OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Opposing the Expansion of the Alcantara Launch Center in Brazil

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 27, 2019
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Indigenous Peoples Foreign Affairs

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the expansion of the Alcantara Launch Center in Brazil.

This agreement between the Trump and Bolsonaro administrations threatens to displace hundreds of Afro-Brazilian quilombo families from their land, further disparaging an already marginalized community.

Brazil's Constitution provides explicit protections for quilombo lands, and Trump and Bolsonaro are blatantly disregarding these protections with this land grab.

Previous expansions of this military base have displaced over 300 families. The expansion of that base on quilombo land will displace some additional 800 quilombo families from their constitutionally protected ancestral land.

I appreciate America's longstanding relationship with Brazil; however, I cannot support policies that dehumanize native people and bring harm to vulnerable communities in Brazil.

Madam Speaker, I oppose this agreement, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

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