On October 12, Amazon Indigenous Leader Beka Munduruku attempted to hand deliver an open letter from the Muduruku people to representatives of the Cargill-MacMillan family urging them to stop the destruction of their land. After traveling 4,000 miles to the family offices in Wayzata, MN, she was intercepted in the parking lot by security guards and denied access. Previously, the family refused to respond to requests to meet.
In reaction, supporting organizations issued the following statement:
Christian Poirier, Program Director at Amazon Watch, said: “It is appalling that an emissary who traveled 4,000 miles to deliver an urgent message from her people would be treated with such dismissal and disrespect.”
Mathew Jacobson, Campaign Director with Stand.earth, said: “The Cargill Macmillan family has demonstrated that they are unconcerned with the impacts of the company’s actions on those victimized by them. And they are dismissive of all attempts to bring it to their attention. We knew that the company didn’t care, but we expected more from the family. It’s high time the family intervenes. We hope that the family will choose to be remembered as one that made the world a better place, not a worse one.”
In her open letter, Beka Munduruku states: “You must cease the destruction of our forests. You must stop expanding into our territory. You must stop selling commodities from lands stolen from Indigenous peoples. You must stop the murder of the defenders of these lands.” To bring this message to the attention of the family, a full-page advertisement to the Cargill-MacMillan family ran yesterday in the print editions of the New York Times and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Her visit to the agribusiness company’s headquarters marked the first time an Indigenous leader from Brazil visited Cargill in response to its documented deforestation and human rights abuses. In 2014, Cargill acknowledged and promised to end their part in the agriculture sector’s significant role in the destruction of the world’s forests. Eight years later, Cargill expanded that commitment to include the protection of critical natural ecosystems other than forests.
Despite these pledges, the agribusiness behemoth engaged in the production of soy and other commodities tied to the destruction of the Amazon and other regions including Brazil’s Cerrado, and has continued its destructive practices.
Cargill is the largest agribusiness company in the world and the largest privately owned company in America. The Cargill-MacMillan family, which owns Cargill, includes more billionaires than any other family in the world.
