People Affected by Dam block the highway access to Belo Monte

People Affected by Belo Monte occupied the Transamazônica to demand immediate solutions from the consortium Norte Energia and to demand from the federal government the approval of the Policy of Rights for those affected.

In the early morning of Thursday last week, around thousand people blocked the Transamazônia, highway that gives access to the construction site of the Hydropower plant Belo Monte, at the municipality of Altamira in Pará, to demand rights of the affected people.

The protesters, organized within the MAB, maintained the blockade to paralyse the construction until Norte Energia, consortium responsible for Belo Monte, would accept to meet with the affected people´s committee to discuss the demands of those affected, who demand measures related to resettlement, housing, water, work, infrastructure, food, energy, education and a development plan for the region.

The workers of the dam, hindered to go the construction because of the blockage, supported the action and denounced the bad working conditions at the construction site and that the company stopped paying benefits, that the workload is excessive and the disregard for the workers’ health.

Due to one of the worst floods occurred in Pará, those affected require immediate action to solve the problems caused by the construction of the dam on the Xingu River. More than 500 families in the town of Altamira are homeless, living in improvised accommodations in the exhibition park and in schools, where they face precarious situations. Classes are suspended. Dona Luiza, affected by the dam and the flood, is sheltered in a shack that is has just a canvas for a roof in the Exposition Park and every time it rains the mud runs into her “home”, dirtying all the furniture and endangering the children´s health.

Raimunda Souza, also affected, is a resident of the Peixaria neighborhood. She fears the disaster in Rondônia can happen similarly in Altamira. “We are being treated like animals, we are losing everything, Norte Energia should have moved us. The dam should not have happened without us being resettled.” she said.

Because of these problems, the affected families occupied the resettlement of Norte Energia in the morning of carnaval (04/03) and demanded that the company resettle the families which are registered and solve the issue of those who are not registered but have the right to resettlement, within 15 days With the mobilization on Thursday, the deadline was reaffirmed.

The affected people unblocked the highway after 12 hours, but this does not simply mean that the fight is over: the19th is the deadline of Norte Energia to respond to the demand for resettlements and the families will charge their rights. Additionally, there are other demands that still need to advance and will require a longer process of organization and struggle.

One of the specific agendas of those affected is the regularization of land of the occupation in Brasil Novo and Vitória do Xingu, which together are composed by 600 families.
For the coordinator of the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) in the state, Iury Paulino, there is no more negotiation on the agenda of those affected. “We will not retreat a single inch more in our agenda . We want concrete answers of Norte Energia and the Federal government on the agenda of those affected. It is inadmissible the situation of those affected by Belo Monte, every day we see more violation of rights,” he says.
In addition to the specific guidelines of the region, the mobilization also charges the federal government’s immediate approval of the National Policy of Rights of People Affected by Dams and the payment of the debt to the affected population, which were not compensated.
The activity is part of the Struggles of March 14, International Day of Struggle against Dams, in defence of Rivers, Water and Life.