“In the meantime, João disappeared in Marajó and waited for the harvesters of the great harvest.”says an excerpt from the song “Gospel of the Pharisees”from the young gospel singer Aymee Rochathat Senator Damares Alves (RepublicanosDF) and other Bolsonarists are trying to promote as the one who will play in the final of Dom Reality, an evangelical music talent show organized in collaboration with the Deezer platform.
A video of the singer on the show went viral on YouTube in recent days and, in addition to Damares, was shared by celebrities such as Rafa Kalimann, Juliette and Virgínia Fonseca. Because the song's lyrics deal with Marajó, a vast archipelago at the mouth of the Amazon, and recount alleged child sexual abuse, Google searches for the location skyrocketed and an old complaint from Damares resurfaced.
While still Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights under Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Damares Alves said on October 8, 2022 during an evangelical service in Goiânia (GO) that as Minister of State she had become aware of the sex exploitation practices in Marajó. In his speech, he accuses the local population of cooperating with criminal organizations, and among the details of Damares' story is a shocking “fact”: that many of these abused children had their teeth extracted to enable the criminals to perform oral sex. .
This is fake news about the size of the Amazon rainforest. And in September last year, the Federal Ministry of Public Health demanded, as part of a public civil lawsuit, that the Bolsonarista compensate the population of Marajó for spreading lies. The case is still pending, but the campaign to promote Aymeé Rocha's music has reignited discussions surrounding the alleged complaint.
While the debate was underway again, Damares posted a video on social media showing children in a truck. She insinuated that the images were taken in Marajó during the transfer of suspected abuse victims. But in reality the video was taken far away. In Uzbekistan.
Evangelical missions
On social media, Aymée Rocha appeared in a post by Pastor Lucas Hayashi of Zion Church in which he advocated for the song “Evangelho dos Phariseus” to be played in the recent Deezer talent show. And this gives rise to the suspicion that the entire narrative and media scheme serves to pave the way for evangelical missions in Marajó.
Hayashi is the very priest who returned in September 2023 after a trip to Marajó and warned loudly and clearly that the Amazon island was plagued by cases of child sexual abuse.
Reproduction/Instagram
One of Zion Church of Hayashi's main goals, according to its website, is to raise funds to finance socalled “evangelization missions.” And let's face it: a complaint that the entire population of a vast archipelago in the most remote corners of Brazil is involved in a heinous childabuse scheme can be quite a fuel for amassing such donations.
Zion Church is led by Junio and Teófilo Hayashi the brother of Pastor Lucas Hayashi. In recent years, Zion Church has become a bona fide gospel franchise with multimilliondollar sales. And the success during the Bolsonaro years was crowned in 2022 with the Princess Isabella Medal of the Order of Merit, created by the ineligible former president as one of the Republic's greatest awards (and duly abolished in 2023 by Minister Silvio Almeida).
Damares presented the Princess Isabel Medal of Merit to Sarah Hayashi of Zion Church. Credits: Disclosure.
But the relationships don't stop there. Zion Church is also the organizer of The Send, an event that mixes farright ideas with the institution's typical US evangelism. In The Send, Bolsonaro would have “converted” to Jesus Christ.
The Send also maintains relations with the Jocum group, which brings together Protestant missionaries expelled from the Amazon by the Federal Ministry of Public Authority in 2016. The reason for the expulsion: a fake documentary widely distributed by Damares over the years depicting an alleged culture of infanticide among the region's indigenous peoples.
Bolsonaro receives prayers on The Send. Credits: Reproduction/Instagram/Dayse Barbosa
Finally, the “Embrace the Marajó” program promoted by Damares is closely linked to the missions of the Zion Church. In a March 2022 Facebook post, Damares Alves herself makes this very clear: “Young volunteers from the Zion Church of São Paulo are once again on Ilha do Marajó taking care of our people,” she wrote.
Reproduction/Facebook
Marajo's counterattacks
On social media, the Marajó Observatory, which monitors human rights violations in the archipelago, published a note accusing Damares and his henchmen of bringing the allegations back into public debate in order to facilitate the entry of socalled “evangelization missions” in the region. .
The company begins its note by stating the obvious that in Marajó, in the Amazon and in all regions of the country, criminal networks operate for the sexual exploitation of children and the international trafficking of people, organs, animals, timber, biotechnology/piracy and illegal substances are . He also says they know how to disguise themselves by occupying institutions, public positions, social networks, churches, media and other places “where they can manipulate people's attention while continuing to act and commit their crimes “.
“The propaganda that associates Marajó with sexual exploitation and abuse is not true: the population of Marajoara does not normalize violence against children and young people. Those who want to spread it and dishonor the Marajoara people insist on this narrative,” the note said.
For the Marajó Observatory, strengthening schools and guardianship councils is the most effective way to ensure the protection of children and young people.
“As minister, Damares Alves did not provide the millions of dollars in funding he repeatedly promised the region to strengthen school communities. Instead, it repeatedly attacked the honor of the population, spread lies and opened these public policies to private groups in São Paulo that advocate the privatization of public education (…). “Criminal networks of sexual exploitation of children and young people are driving mobilizations that draw attention to regions with institutional insecurity, like a whistle to call criminals into these spaces,” the company said in a statement.