Damares Alves and Marajó: How Fake News Benefited Evangelical Churches

This documentary shows UOL journalists' trip to the Marajó archipelago in Pará to find out what happened in the “Abrace o Marajó” (Embrace Marajó) program, launched by the then Minister of Human Rights Damares Alves during the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) administration. During the program, documents authorizing the use of land in the archipelago were issued in unusual dimensions—millions of square meters of land—which sparked suspicions of irregularities among experts and the Lula (PT) government, which revoked the program.

The journalists obtained previously unpublished data from these documents via LAI (Law on Access to Information) and, armed with this information, went to check specific geographical coordinates to find out what was happening on these lands. Riverine residents reported that they were unaware of the size of the land allocated to them—and that pastors had asked them to build evangelical church temples in these areas.

---

As a nonprofit journalism organization, we depend on your support to fund more than 170 reporting projects every year on critical global and local issues. Donate any amount today to become a Pulitzer Center Champion and receive exclusive benefits!

---