By Eric Nepomuceno on November 28, 2021
photo: Bruno Kelly, Green Peace
New images released in the last few days reinforce what is already known; the total impunity with which illegal miners operate in the Amazon region, including in environmental reserve areas and demarcated territories of indigenous communities, and it is growing more and more.
Right now there are hundreds of boats anchored in the waters of the Madeira River, some 115 kilometers from Manaus, capital of the state of Amazonas, all dedicated to the search for gold.
They arrived a little more than a fortnight ago and have settled in. Mineral extraction is prohibited in the region, but they work undisturbed.
In addition to being illegal, mining brings a greater risk: mercury contamination. The miners stir up the river bottom, filter for gold and then return the contaminated water, which in turn contaminates the fish that are the basic diet of the population.
Specialists say that, despite the impact caused by the images, mining in the waters of the Madeira River is less destructive than the invasions of indigenous reserves.
The invasions of Yanomami reserves, both in the state of Amazonas and in neighboring Roraima, are carried out by organized groups that arrive in airplanes and helicopters, have expensive equipment, financial backing from drug traffickers and the government’s inertia, if not incentive, to act with impunity.
Last Wednesday, when the action in the Madeira waters was already two weeks old, the authorities decided to open an investigation. The next day the vice-president, the reformed general Hamilton Mourão, announced that the Federal Police and the Navy “are preparing to act”. When, he did not say. Most likely, they will not find any of the illegal miners.
This is another advance in the environmental degradation unleashed under the ultra-right-wing Jair Bolsonaro. As an immediate consequence, more pressures will come and Brazil’s isolation on the international scene will grow.
Last Thursday, the German ambassador in Brasilia, Heiko Tohms, warned that the new government of his country, headed by Olaf Scholz, will give more emphasis to the environmental issue. In passing, he pointed out that he received, from the Bolsonaro government, “wrong” information – diplomatically he avoided the correct word, “lies” – about the advance of deforestation in the Amazon.
In meetings with members of the government, he was informed that deforestation had decreased by 5% between August 2020 and July 2021. In reality it increased by 22%. He said it was “a big negative surprise”.
Regarding these data, it is worth remembering that they were consolidated and available since October 27, four days before the start of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, held in Glasgow. Another of the manipulations of Bolsonaro and company: they were only known four days after the closing of the meeting.
The 22% increase allowed the calculation of what happened between August 2020 and last July: the clearing of at least 745 million trees, which means 13,235 kilometers, an area equivalent to 65 times the City of Buenos Aires.
Since January 1, 2019, when Bolsonaro became president, 1900 million trees have been felled.
But the ultra-right-winger insists on diminishing the size of the tragedy and its consequences not only for the environment, but also for Brazil’s image, increasingly worn out on the global stage
While the Amazon is bleeding in front of the eyes of the world, his government oscillates between inertia and the incentive to be aggressive to indigenous reserves, and invading with increasing voracity.
The ultra-right tries to defend itself in the eyes of the world, tries to convince that what is happening is not happening. A futile effort.
The most serious thing is that the price of the disaster will not fall on the shoulders of the government, but on the 213 million Brazilians and ultimately the people of the world.
Source: Pagina 12, translation Resumen Latinoamricano – English