MPF sues Renan Santos and MBL for offenses against indigenous people, seeks R$500,000 in damages

The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) in Pará, Brazil, has filed a lawsuit against Renan Santos, a presidential candidate for the Missão party, and the Movimento Brasil Livre (MBL) organization he founded. The action targets alleged discriminatory statements made by Santos against indigenous people in the state, with the MPF seeking R$500,000 in compensation for collective moral damages.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday, accuses Santos of "propagating hate speech and racism" through publications deemed discriminatory towards 14 indigenous ethnic groups in the Baixo Tapajós region of Pará. The MPF has requested an urgent court order for the immediate removal of these posts and a prohibition against the defendants publishing further content that "offends or delegitimizes the ethnic identity of these peoples," under penalty of a daily fine of R$3,000.

The case originates from a video Santos published in February, where he referred to indigenous protesters as "a bunch of lazy, fraudulent Indians" from the PSOL party. These protests occurred in January at the Cargill terminal in Santarém, Pará, where indigenous groups blocked the port facility for over a month. Their demonstration was against the Lula government's waterway plan for Amazonian rivers. The government eventually conceded to the pressure and announced the revocation of decree 12.600/2025, leading to the dismantling of the protest camp.

During an event on Tuesday, Santos addressed the lawsuit, referring to the Pará protest as "a sabotage policy, carried out by a supposed indigenous tribe." He described the situation as indigenous people, whom he called "criminal Indians or supposed criminal Indians," invading Cargill's area, causing long queues of truckers and hindering the transport of grain. He stated his intention was to bring national attention to the issue, adding, "And now I am being accused of being a person who is prejudiced against Indians. And the Federal Public Ministry demands a public retraction from me for the 14 indigenous ethnic groups that I supposedly offended and also the payment of R$500,000 to them. Obviously, because no one is made of iron, right? Everyone needs a little money."

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a sabotage policy, that was carried out by a supposed indigenous tribe.