Families reoccupying land claimed by Canadian mining company call for support against ecocide. Source: ReporterBrasil

Approximately 40 landless families have reoccupied land in the Volta Grande of Xingu that has been claimed by Canadian gold mining enterprise, Belo Sun.  At the end of 2021, Brazil's National Institute for Agrarian Reform, which is the federal government institute responsible for agrarian reform in Brazil, decided to cede a large area of traditionally occupied ​​land to the Canadian based mining company, Belo Sun. It did so in exchange for a share in the profits of gold mining scheduled to take place in Volta Grande. do Xingu, in Pará.

Part of this land ceded to the mining company is within an existing agrarian reform settlement, which led the Public Defender's Office to file a lawsuit against this agreement. Belo Sun is subject to several legal cases related to its plans for a massive, open-pit gold mine in the heart of the Amazon.  Knowing that justice processes are always too slow and that aggressors are rarely prosecuted for such crimes, a group of landless families organised themselves and, in April of this year, reclaimed their right to land and encamped in this territory.

The families are fighting for land to live and produce food. They denounce the trading of their settlement by the Bolsonaro government to the benefit of Belo Sun, and seek to protect the river and forest against further destruction as they witnessed with the Belo Monte dam construction in this region.  In response, the mining company filed a lawsuit for repossession against the campers. But the action does not only ask for the expulsion of the landless. In what is seen as an underhand manoeuvre, Belo Sun is asking that all people and families living on the 2,700 hectares that it is targeting be removed by the police.   This includes Vila Ressaca, a community with more than 200 families.  Those resisting Belo Sun have been subject to harassment, intimidation and death threats.  The encamped families fear of violence from Belo Sun's armed security guards but continue to resist; however, under these conditions they unable to plant crops and are in dire need of support to access basic food supplies and medicines.  They have made an international appeal for solidarity. Belo Sun enjoys the support of many international investors. Those resisting the mine deserve the support across borders.   To make a solidarity contribution, please go to:  https://gofund.me/da3e55aa

For further information in English and Portuguese, see: https://xingumais.org.br/obra/mineracao-volta-grande-belo-sun

See also:

• Official complaint regarding Belo Sun and the situation in Ressaca, Volta Grande of Xingu
• The joint submission to the UN's Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights in Brazil
• Open letter to the European Union Special Representative for Human Rights
• Joint statement on the situation in Volta Grande of Xingu
• Technical note: Settlers and affected communities against the Volta Grande mining project

A young Munduruku warrior mapping deforestation along the Tapajos river using drone technologies. Photo B Garvey, February 2022

The Munduruku of Brazil's Amazon Basin have been to the fore of resistance to illegal logging and mining, deforestation, and to government policies that would legitimise these crimes. As their recent letter affirms, they oppose trading their lives and territories for carbon credit schemes. Many leaders, including Alessandra Munduruku and Maria Leusa Kaba Munduruku, who visited Scotland, Belgium and Switzerland this year, have consequently been subject to death threats and violent attacks on their homes. The headquarters of the Munduruku Women's Wakoburun association was also attacked in 2021.

The Munduruku live in the southwest of the state of Pará along the Tapajós river and its tributaries, in the east of the state of Amazonas along the Canumã River, and in the north of the state of Mato Grosso in the Peixes River.  As their territories face further invasion in face of state negligence and complicity, research shows that in areas more heavily impacted by mining, nine out of 10 participants showed dangerously high levels of mercury contamination, with approximately 16% of children showing associated neurodevelopment deficiencies.  Land grabs and violence against the Munduruku is incentivised by state failure to demarcate and protect indigenous territories, policies that favour private ownership, and international speculation, trades and markets that are ineffectively regulated. The problems, therefore, are not just Brazil's. The UK was the third largest purchaser of gold from Brazil in 2020; oil giant, Shell, seeks to offset its ongoing pollution via carbon schemes objected to by indigenous communities; the Mecosur free trade agreement between EU and Brazil further threatens the forest and indigenous lands.  The demands by the Munduruku, established following extensive community consultations, are clearly set out in the letter here. For further details on solidarity initiatives with the Munduruku, if you can help share information, or to get involved, please contact: brian.garvey@strath.ac.uk

See also:

• Swiss pledge to stop illegal gold imports from Brazil Indigenous reserves
• Dirty gold: Swiss pledge to stop illegal imports from Brazil Indigenous reserves
• Report on Legitimising Land grabs, Tapajos, Para, Brazilian Amazon