GOIÁS (BDCi) – While she is being called such colorful names as “chainsaw queen,” “Miss Deforestation” and “face of evil,” Kátia Abreu, a senator and rancher from Goiás, is preparing to one day run for president of Brazil.
Abreu’s main goal is to boost agricultural output and assist the nation in surpassing the U.S. as the biggest food producer in the world.
A defender of agribusiness, Abreu is the leader of the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock and its political lobby, made up of more than 250 senators and members of congress.
Abreu has supported the building of more roads through the Amazon as well as congress’s control over indigenous reserve boundaries.
She has also pushed for genetically modified foods like “terminator seeds.”
But environmentalists claim that her influential force in crippling the country’s forest code has led to a recent increase in deforestation in the Amazon, hence the creative name-calling.
Abreu is known to attack groups that impede the progress of Brazil’s agriculture, such as environmentalists, landless peasants and indigenous peoples.
Despite her reputation, she believes that Brazil’s abundant water, latest technology and vast amounts of land are enough to beat the U.S., even without cutting down trees.
By: Diego Díaz Source: The Guardian Photo: brazilcouncil.org 6 May 2014
8:00 a.m. P.D.T.