After being attacked and abandoning a public hearing at the Federal Senate, the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, was again the target of offenses at the House of Representatives Agriculture Commission on Wednesday, 2. In response, Marina said she felt “terribly assaulted” and asked “very calm” in prayer to God.
Federal Deputy Evair Vieira de Melo (PP-ES) again said that she is “trained” and that she uses the same strategic rhetoric of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) and the Palestinian terrorist groups Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah.
“I used the expression training in a past session, and it was not a personal offense, because repetitions that seek result is training,” said Evair. “This minister’s modus operandi is not isolated. Her strategy is the same as Colombian Farcs use, that Hamas, Hezbollah use.”
Marina said that what was happening in that session was something “at a worse level” compared to what happened in the Senate. “After what happened there (in the Senate), people were going to find it very normal to do what is happening here at a worse level,” said Marina. “I was terribly assaulted.”
In the Senate, in May, Marina abandoned a public hearing after a series of discussions with opposition parliamentarians. In the House, this time, the minister came on a call condition (which forces her to attend) to provide clarification on the support of the Terra Livre camp, the increase in burning and deforestation in the Amazon; and on the environmental impact of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30) in Belém.
During the hearing, the minister defended participation in the Terra Livre camp in April, and which came out in the middle of the indigenous march, and said that the construction of a highway due to COP-30 is the responsibility of the State of Pará and not the federal government.
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Again, opposition parliamentarians exchanged offenses. The president of the board, Rodolfo Nogueira (PL-MS), said that the minister acts “as if it were the sustainability paladin”-governors said that opposition deputies acted with disrespect.
Evair Vieira de Melo criticized the conduct of environmental policy by Marina Silva, saying, among other things, that the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) acts as a fine industry and criticized deforestation numbers.
The minister said she was “at peace” after saying a prayer to God before the session asking for calm. “I am very quiet with my conscience. In the term of defense of the environment, may God judge between me and your excellence and give His verdict,” Marina told Evair.
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In October 2024, as chairman of the Agriculture Commission, the same Evair said the minister was “trained” to attend the board meeting. “Who is trained? Have holy patience. You will not tell me that I am a trained person,” said the minister at that time.
During Tuesday’s session, Evair told Marina at different times to consult her advisers about government policy impact data.
“You say, ‘Ah, minister, ask your advisers to see the data and help interpret.” I understand everything that is coded in these lines. It has a lot of prejudice, has racism, has machismo, has everything, “he replied.
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Marina again said that opposition deputies were being macho. When he defended Ibama servants, Deputy Cabo Gilberto Silva (PL-PB) shouted “Calm, Minister”. She answered.
“Look, this is not a way of addressing a woman. When you (men) raise your voice, they say they are being incisive, blunt. When a woman speaks firmly,” said the minister, until she is interrupted again and unable to complete the reasoning. For the minister, her posture is not a “show, it is a defense of dignity”.
