Early this morning around 2:30 AM, one of the coordinators of the Movement for the Development of the Transamazon and the Xingu* was assassinated. Ademir Alfeu Federicci, known as “Dema”, was shot in the head following a struggle with an armed man who entered his house in Altamira.
Dema, a leader of the Federation of Agricultural Workers (Fetagri) had worked in organizing community leaders, labor unions, cooperatives and associations along the Transamazon highway in their call for a sustainable development project for the region as an alternative to the construction of the Belo Monte dam, which would be the world’s second largest, and the first on the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon.
Federicci had helped write the SOS XINGU letter on July 25th protesting the Brazilian government’s lack of consultation with local communities regarding plans for dams on the Xingu. He had also made enemies by fighting corruption in local governments.
Ademir Alfeu Federicci 1965-2001
MOVIMENTO PELO DESENVOLVIMENTO DA TRANSAMAZÔNICA E XINGU – MDTX
Rua Anchieta, 2092 – 68.371.190
Altamira – Pará
Brazil
Tel/Fax: +55.91.515.2406 fvpp@amazoncoop.com.br
For further information: Guilherme Carvalho, Forum of the Eastern Amazon (FAOR)
+55.91.242.0318/241.5310
guilherme@fase-pa.org.br
· The Movement for the Development of the Transamazon is a non-governmental forum of 113 organizations from the Transamazon and Xingu River region, including farmers, the women’s movement, teachers, students, researchers, indigenous peoples, women, youth, and religious leaders who fight the for sustainable development of the region.
Excerpts from the SOS Xingu letter:
SOS Xingu – An Appeal to Good Sense
July 25, 2001
The MDTX has always fought for a sustainable development model, based upon the rational use of our natural resources and the preservation of our rivers and forests, sharing the wealth with all men and women. For this reason, we call on all social and environmental organizations in Brazil and the entire World to join us in opposing the model of development being implanted in the Amazon rainforest by the Brazilian government based upon the construction of hydroelectric dams, hidrovias (channelization of rivers for industrial waterways), support for intensive agriculture (soy and other grains) with high use of chemicals, cattle ranching, and mining. We need your help to confront this new threat, caused by the insensitivity of politicians with an obsolete mentality.
The Brazilian government is set to commit one more crime against the Amazon. The hydroelectric dam this time is Belo Monte, in Vitória do Xingu, Pará state. This dam has been planned since the 1980’s, when it was called Kararaô, but was suspended, principally through the pressure of local, national, and international environmental movements.
In 2000, Eletronorte reiniciated its work in the region, presenting the dam project as a done deal, and began an intensive campaign financed with public funds to convince the public of the importance of the dam.
The construction of hydroelectric dams has never been a sustainable activity for the Amazon. On the contrary, these investments have brought disorder and ecological, economic, and social destruction. Eletronorte has been promising mitigation and compensation programs to local governments. These should be scientifically based on the results of an Environmental Impact Assessment, incorporating a broad range of activities to minimize the impact of the dam, should it be built. However, the fact that these studies have been awarded without competitive bidding shows that the studies’ results should be closely scrutinized by all.
It is very alarming that the authoritarianism that has characterized the construction of large-scale projects in the Amazon in the past is being repeated, in the absence of an honest and open debate. The public has no idea what may happen if the dam is built.
The social movements began their organizing in April, in a public debate in Altamira. Eletronorte responded by telling the media that Belo Monte dam was a blessing from God. Meanwhile, all public meetings against the dam have been filmed by police and intelligence forces. This is inacceptable in a debate over the future of the Amazon, a fragile ecological region about which relatively little is known.
No one can say with certainty what the impacts of Belo Monte and the two other dams on the Xingu now being discussed will be. Why sacrifice the Xingu River by building dams, when its basin represents one of the country’s most important sites of ecological capital in its natural state, capable of contributing as an instrument for sustainable economic development, in harmony with other investment options such as green tourism, fishing, leisure, and by furnishing clean water.
Does it not appear unreasonable that the G-7 countries are investing about US$300 million to control deforestation in the Amazon while international financial institutions are utilizing public resources of billions of dollars from these countries in projects which adversely affect ecosystems. In the case of the Xingu, with three dams planned for the coming years, what will be left of the river for human populations, such as indigenous peoples (Kayapó, Parakanã-Apiterewa, Araweté do Igarapé Ipixuna, Asurini do Xingu, Arara do Pará, Juruna, Xipaia e Curuaia)? And for the riverbank dwellers who depend upon these ecosystems?
With this in mind, we propose a conference on Belo Monte for September, bringing together environmental groups from Brazil and other parts of the world to consider and take positions on the long-term interests of our country.
Movimento Pelo Desenvolvimento da Transamazônica e Xingu Rua Anchieta, 2092 – 68.371.190 Altamira – Pará fvpp@amazoncoop.com.br
