In the midst of a new pandemic coronavirus, Funai (National Indigenous Foundation) in Brasilia gave the green light to a Canadian mining company to organize face-to-face meetings with around 100 indigenous people in two Amazonian villages.
The reason: Belo Sun Mining, based in Toronto, Canada, wants to accelerate its exploration plans for a gold mine that could affect two indigenous lands and riparian communities already living under the impact of the construction of the dam. Belo Monte, on the Xingu river, in Pará.
On the 9th, the Federal Public Defender’s Office (DPU) recommended that the Funai reject the possibility of any face-to-face meeting during the pandemic and suspend the effects of “technical information” issued by the indigenous body on February 10.
The Funai document gives some guidelines, but does not veto the initiative of the mining company. It even suggests what the mining company should do “if a case of Covid-19 is confirmed or suspected during the event” – “the case detected (participant) immediately [será] isolated from the group and will have the appropriate reference articulated by the health professional present on the site ”.
Funai also indicates that the mining company should request “the support of private laboratories, to be scheduled before the CI-EIA presentation meetings. [componente indígena do estudo de impacto ambiental], videoconference meetings, preferably in the presence of indigenous representatives, to articulate preparations for meetings with the DSEI [distrito sanitário de saúde indígena, vinculado ao Ministério da Saúde] From region “.
The indigenous agency suggested that, if DSEI support is not possible, the mining company can “seek support from private laboratories and / or other professionals.”
According to data presented by the mining company itself, the disease had killed, until last January, 7,366 inhabitants of Pará. As the study covers the panorama of the disease through January, it did not cover the great wave of the disease that affects almost all Brazilian states today. . In Pará alone, the number of deaths exceeded 9,000 in the last 8.
The DPU attacked the initiative. “The proposal presented [pela mineradora] it does not guarantee the health security and the preservation of the life of the participants, on the basis of information incompatible with the situation of the pandemic in the region of Altamira and other Brazilian states, nor with the directives of the agencies of national and international health. health, and can also weigh on local health agencies, such as DSEI and Sesai [órgãos de saúde indígena da União]”, says the DPU piece signed by defenders Wagner Wille Nascimento Vaz, Elisângela Machado Côrtes and Francisco de Assis Nascimento Nóbrega.
The chronicle requested Belo Sun this Wednesday (10) with doubts about the initiative of the meetings in the midst of the pandemic. The mining company responded by email, “The company has chosen not to respond to this request. We appreciate your interest.
The mining company also wants to organize in-person meetings in Altamira
The “technical information” produced by Funai in Brasilia analyzed a plan submitted by the mining company through an outsourced environmental consulting company, responsible for the indigenous component of the environmental impact study.
The mining company argued, and Funai agreed, that “the technical impossibility of holding meetings by videoconference has been noted. [sic] on native lands. The plan claims the company will follow a “safety protocol” on the disease.
Office of the Canadian mining company Belo Sun in Vila da Ressaca, in Senador José Porfírio (PA)
Image: Isabel Harari / ISA (Socio-environmental institute)
Belo Sun said meetings are needed in two indigenous lands, Arara da Volta Grande do Xingu, with around 45 indigenous peoples, and Paquicamba, of the Arara and Juruna, or Yudjá ethnic groups, with 60 to 66 participants. Each event is expected to last two days, with sessions in the morning and afternoon, and around 5:30 a.m. in each of the villages.
But the movement of the natives does not stop there. The mining company also wants to hold two meetings in the city of Altamira (PA), in two consecutive days, with more than 10 hours added. The natives would be transported from their villages by boat or bus and would be “accommodated in an exclusive place, avoiding any contact with third parties”.
Funai suggested a “meeting with the consulting firm by videoconference to discuss the
proposals presented here and the possible programming of a meeting with the DSEI / SESAI to prepare the
CI-EIA presentation meeting “.
For Amazon Watch, an initiative of the mining company and Funai is “unacceptable”
Rosana Miranda, campaign advisor for the non-governmental organization Amazon Watch, said it was “unacceptable for Funai and Belo Sun to schedule face-to-face meetings as Brazil experiences the pandemic.”
“The process of prior, free and informed consultation is a right of indigenous communities, not an obligation imposed without regard to their health and safety. If these meetings are carried out, it will be one more irregularity in the Volta Grande project in Belo. Sun, who is trying to speed up the process to silence the evidence that this project is technically and environmentally unfeasible, ”Rosana said, through an Amazon Watch advisor.
According to the NGO, the jurunas of the indigenous Paquicamba land “sent a letter to Funai in December 2020 saying that they would not renounce the consultation protocol which stipulates that all meetings must be in person and that they will not do so. that when all indigenous peoples are vaccinated They categorically state that they do not accept virtual meetings to talk about the impacts of Belo Sun and would not agree to face to face meetings until all are vaccinated.
Ilha da Fazenda, a riverside community whose area is directly threatened by the mining company Belo Sun, where the mining company intends to settle on the Volta Grande of the Xingu River, in Pará.
Image: Marcelo Soubhia / ISA (Socio-environmental institute)
In the letter, sent with a copy to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, also involved in the case since 2010, the natives declare: “We need to better understand the impacts of this Belo Sun project. this mining project. be wrong as we were with Belo Monte. So that we can better understand these impacts, we say that we do not want to present studies now on the internet in the midst of a pandemic. You can see this letter which is attached here. The pandemic has weakened our peoples because we were already suffering from the decrease in the flow of fish and rivers since the construction of Belo Monte. Our lives matter. [espécie de cágado] and fish matter “.
According to a 2014 MPF petition, Canada’s Belo Sun “belongs to the Forbes & Manhattan Inc. group, a privately-owned commercial bank that develops mining projects around the world.”
The MPF has already filed two lawsuits over the gold mine. One, already winner at first instance of the Federal Court and the TRF-1 (Federal Regional Court) of the 1st Region, decided that a preliminary consultation be carried out with the indigenous peoples and residents concerned by the project. The other calls for environmental licenses to be issued at the federal level, not at the state level. There is already a favorable decision for the MPF in the Federal Court.
According to Amazon Watch, “the riparian communities of Volta Grande do Xingu, the impact area of the mining project, are totally ignored in this consultation process and there has been no discussion of the impact and mitigation actions. and / or compensation ”.
“Just as happened in Belo Monte, these riparian communities were excluded from the Belo Sun environmental authorization process. four independent opinions included in the process which question, among other things, the technical feasibility of the project as presented in the EIA CI [estudo de impacto ambiental]. The information presented by these notices cannot be ignored in the authorization process, whether with indigenous peoples or neighboring communities. In addition, there are other indigenous communities in the Volta Grande do Xingu region that request to be included in the authorization process and in free, prior and informed consultation. These communities have so far not been included in this process. “
“Amateur web enthusiast. Award-winning creator. Extreme music expert. Wannabe analyst. Organizer. Hipster-friendly tv scholar. Twitter guru.”