European Parliamentarians listen to the denounces of the Affected People by the Belo Monte dams

The negative effects of the Belo Monte dam echoed in Europe. Three deputies of the Green Party of the European Parliament came to Brazil to know more about the issue. After visiting Brasilia and Belem earlier this week, they came to the city of Altamira (PA) on Thursday (July 11) and heard testimonials of those affected by the dam.

The deputies Ulrike Lunacek (Austria) Catherine Greze and Eva Joly (France) heard the testimonies from indigenous leaders, fishers, riverside communities, small farmers and residents of the city of Altamira, as well as representatives of social movements such as the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) , Xingu Vivo Para Sempre (MXPS) and Women’s Movement of the Field and of the City (MMCC).

This activity enabled to observe a broad framework of rights violations, like: low compensations, rising of violence and social exclusion, criminalization of social struggles, disrespect for indigenous peoples, among other problems. “My mother was thrown out of her land, she was thrown to the city and now she have to rent half of the house, which is small to survive. She is in treatment for depression.” said Ormazete de Oliveira, daughter of small farmers.

“Our goal is that indigenous peoples rights are respected and also that environmental rights are respected. Amazonia does not belong only to Brazil, it is from the whole world, because climate change does not have frontiers,” said the French deputy Eva Joly.

Claret Fernandes, MAB, remembered that the problem is beyond the BeloMonte dam, the problem is within the energy model. “Austrian companies, responsible for the turbines of Belo Monte, say they are not responsible for the construction, but they are in Brazil since 1964 and participated at the projects of the military dictatorship for the electricity sector. There is a fundamental issue about the energy project, analysing for whom and for what is the Belo Monte electricity intended.”

Mobilization and National Force

A group of circa of 70 labourers went on strike this Wednesday (10th of July) at Belo Monte’s construction site. According to the workers reports, the protesters were summarily dismissed, suffocating the movement, which did not had the support of the trade union that represents the category. More 200 workers were dismissed on Thursday to avoid similar strikes.

The workers announced a month ago they would strike this day 10th of July. Because of the cutting down of the accounting as work-time the daily time spent taken to come to the dam construction site and to return to Altamira (which comes to 20% of the value of the salary and in some cases is spent 4 hours for this trajectory).

Also this week, Minister of Justice José Eduardo Cardozo, decided to extend the presence of the National Public Security Force within the construction work sites. According to the decree published on Tuesday at the Official Gazette the presence of the National Force is prolonged for 180 days. The workers says that there is a large tension at the work sites to avoid any kind of strikes.

Since march the National Force is continuously present at the Belo Monte’s work sites and that has been a decisive element for the suffocation of another strike movement undertaken by workers in April, which lasted 10 days. Also since March this year, at other parts of the Amazon, the National Force was authorized to maintain an effective at the dams of Santo Antônio and Jirau, in Rondônia, and to enable studies at the Tapajós Hydroelectric Complex in western Pará.