Agência Brasil – ABr – Minister Matilde Ribeiro, of the Special Secretariat of Policies to Promote Racial Equality, affirmed today that communities originally founded by runaway slaves will be recognized as part of the Brazilian historical patrimony and will be the object of specially guided policies, as is the case with Indians. In her view, the communities in which the descendants of runaway slaves live are in precarious living conditions, the condition of illiteracy is pronounced, diseases spread with ease as a result of terrible sanitary conditions, and the unemployment level grows every day.
Ribeiro emphasized that Brazil cannot ignore the historical wealth of the runaway slave communities, and she said that the first step is to conduct a survey to determine the exact number of communities, since a study conducted by the previous Administration pointed to two thousand communities, while the National Movement of Remainders of Runaway Slave Communities affirms that there are four thousand communities scattered throughout the country, with the greatest concentration in the North and Northeast regions. (DAS)