The Organization of American States requested Brazil suspend work on the Belo Monte hydroelectric project in the Amazon, echoing the protests of Indians and Hollywood director James Cameron who oppose what is set to be the world’s third-biggest dam.
The OAS’s Inter-American Commission on Human Rights asked Brazil “to immediately suspend” work on the $11 billion dam until it consults indigenous people in a “free, informative and culturally adequate” manner, according to an OAS memo.
President Dilma Rousseff’s government must also take steps to protect isolated tribes along the Xingu River where the dam will be built, according to the memo provided by Altamira, Para- based Movimento Xingu Vivo, one of six groups that complained to the Washington-based OAS on behalf of indigenous tribes.
Rousseff’s government has 15 days to respond to the commission’s letter seeking information about what measures it has taken to fulfill its treaty commitments to the Inter- American system, according to the memo.
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement, said the commission’s request was “hasty and unjustified,” as the government is taking into account all social and environmental concerns about the project.
“Avatar” director Cameron, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gathered in the Amazon city of Manaus last month to voice concern about the potential environmental impact from the dam.
The dam, which will flood 516 square kilometers (199 square miles) of the world’s largest rainforest and require the relocation of about 1,000 Indians, is part of the government’s plan to boost energy supplies as economic growth accelerates.
Latin America’s biggest economy expanded 7.5 percent last year, the fastest pace in two decades, and is expected to grow 4 percent this year, according to the latest central bank survey of economists.
