Tapajós people celebrate plant archiving and preparing resistance to new projects. Caravan met indigenous, quilombolas, riparian, farmers, researchers,
teachers, activists, Munduruku Indians celebrate on the edge of Tapajós
in Itaituba
Santarem,
Alta Floresta, Jacareacanga, Aveiro, Altamira left boats crowded with
peasants, riverine, indigenous, quilombolas and activists, all towards
Itaituba, which hosted last weekend the 2nd Caravan in Defense of Rio
Tapajos. This
time the meeting had reason to celebrate, with the filing of São Luiz
do Tapajós plant by the Brazilian Environmental Institute (Ibama). But
the moment was also preparing for new government projects that threaten
the Tapajós basin, formed by the Teles Pires, Juruena, Jamanxim and
other tributaries of second order. In almost all, there are dozens of construction projects of dams and ports.
The
work of the Caravan were opened with a minute of silence in tribute to
the activist Nilce Magalhaes, the Nicinha, murdered in January this year
in Rondônia. Fisherwoman,
Nicinha fought the dams of Jirau and Santo Antonio in Madeira river and
was missing for four months, until his body was found in the lake of
the Jirau plant on 21 June last. The
first to speak at the meeting was the general chief of Munduruku
people, Arnaldo Kaba, who thanked the support of riverine and social
movements in the region against the plant of São Luiz do Tapajós. "Only the Mundurukú could not stop the dam, but all together, barramos" he said. "The development for us is clean and protected forest water," said the chief.
They
attended the meeting invited the Xingu River, which is being built the
hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte, a high environmental cost,
particularly for indigenous and riverine hit brutally in their ways of
life. Raimunda
Gomes, fisherwoman and inhabitant of an island in the Xingu which was
flooded by the lake of the plant, has had his house burned down by the
company responsible for the removal of the residents. "Do not accept any money, not worth what it is worth is to stay in the little place of you. For us, life is not over, of course not. But it's a lot of fight to be able to live out of our environment. "
The
husband of Raimunda, João Pereira da Silva, came to suffer a stroke
within the Norte Energia office during one of unequal negotiations that
was submitted during the removal process. Now, along with research institutions and civil society, the Federal
Public Ministry (MPF) tries to find a solution to ensure the return of
all bordering the Xingu to the reservoir area when the work of Belo
Monte finish.
The
MPF also has a working group to monitor government projects in the
Tapajós basin and attended the meeting in Itaituba with the presence of a
prosecutor, Camões Boaventura and a regional prosecutor, Felicio Pontes
Jr. "It's time to celebrate but this is no time to let down our guard, "said Pontes Jr. to address the audience. He recalled that in the tributaries of the basin are being built and planned dozens of dams. Only in the Teles Pires, chief trainer of the Tapajos, are four large dams already under construction. In the smaller rivers such as the Juruena, Arinos and the river fish, there are dozens of small and medium dams projects.
"The
project of São Luiz do Tapajós was filed by a conjunction of several
factors," said Boaventura Camões, author of the recommendation to Ibama
to shelve the licensing of the plant. "But
we would not have this combination of factors is not for the resilience
and denunciation of the people of this river, who never gave up to
claim their constitutional rights and thus weakened the dam project," he
said. The MPF continues to follow all other dam projects in the Tapajós
basin, with a team of attorneys who work in Santarém, Itaituba, Cuiabá,
Sinop, Belém and Brasilia.
The
Rikbaktsa, Menki ethnicities, Kayabi and Apiaká, Mato Grosso, residents
of the rivers Teles Pires, Juruena, Arinos, the Fish and Apiacás were
also to Itaituba, get bowl peoples of support to tackle projects that
already extensively violates constitutional rights in these rivers. "My people have three indigenous lands in three counties and each is planned a plant," said the lead Paulo Henrique Rikbaktsa.
Thanking
the presence of people of Mato Grosso, Ademir Kaba, teacher Mundurukú,
he said that indigenous peoples today beg a piece of land that was all
of them. "I'm not proud of being Brazilian, because Brazil, the Brazilian government does not respect the rights of indigenous peoples. We are here united with one goal, which is to keep our life as a
people, as usual, as a religion, because it depended on the government,
had already finished the indigenous people, "he said.
"I am the daughter of Mangabal Mountain, I'm proud to be riverfront. This river is my life. I used to fish, lemon, pepper and flour mush. I garden and I use the land. So
we do not want hydroelectric no way, "said Tereza Lobo, community
resident in the upper Tapajós that would be affected both by the plant
of São Luiz do Tapajós as the second dam project on the river, the
Jatoba, which has not yet been filed by government.
Professor
Alfredo Wagner de Almeida, of the Federal University of Amazonas,
showed some of the serious flaws in the impact studies of São Luiz do
Tapajós, which are among the reasons for project archiving. With
its New Social Cartography project, Alfredo prepares maps together with
the communities and in the case of Pimental community, which would be
the site of the São Luiz dam, the map presented by the companies study
title omitted all information about locations and residents that could be passed by the people.
"People will map and are not able to list the places where the wealth of communities, açai, the fishing spots. Communities
have far greater powers than the consulting firms that receive millions
to map the locations, "explained Alfredo Wagner. Guilherme Carvalho, Phase (Federation of Organizations for Social and
Educational Assistance), recalled that projects such as hydroelectric,
when installing, make impossible any other activity in the region and
remove territories and hand the autonomy of communities living
centenariamente in the Amazon region.
For
professor at the Federal University of Pará Edna Castro is fundamental
respect for the memory and the lives of several generations living in
the Amazon region. She recalled the fight against Tucuruí plant, as an example that can
not be forgotten that after the implementation of a large state-owned
development project, processes of violence and resistance remain for
decades.
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