Native Brazilians Fight Against 'New Belo Monte' Power Plant

07/04/2016 - 10h45

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MARCELO LEITE

SPECIAL ENVOY TO SAWRÉ MUYBU (PA)

On the steep hillside of the banks of the Tapajós river, less than 30 kilometers from where the São Luiz hydroelectric power plant will be built in the state of Pará, "captain" Juarez Munduruku, of the Sawré Muybu tribe, arranges the bead necklaces that cross his chest. He begins to speak: "Good morning to all."

He is surrounded by other mundurucus, the name given by their old parintintins enemies which means "ants of fire." There are some "pariwat" (white people), gathered to set up yet another sign that delimitates the indigenous lands named after the tribe.

"Sawe!", cry all the people around him, in a traditional greeting. Although the location has not been made official by the Brazilian government, the 1,789 km² of the Sawré Muybu lands - nearly 20% bigger than the city of São Paulo - are inhabited by 132 Native Brazilians.

Supplied by NGO Greenpeace, the sign imitates the one used by the federal government to demarcate homologated indigenous land, but does not bear the logo of Funai, the National Indian Foundation. On the tree next to the sign, a simple wooden board set up nearly two years ago calls for respect for "mother earth."

The good warrior stands out for his choice of weapon and his skills in using it. Leader Juarez lives up to the military fame of the mundurucus and resorts to a phrase what white people like to hear: "everyone, regardless of their gender." After all, the war is now fought with words, as they like to say.

"If they really build the power plant, we will invade. Everyone has already committed to it," Juarez said the day before, in a shack set by the NGO in the tribe. "We are going to put 500 warriors there."

The mundurucus do not trust the words of the chiefs in Brasília. They were received in the capital of the country after they invaded the construction site of the Belo Monte power plant, nearly 500 kilometers northeast of the tribe, and heard Gilberto Carvalho (PT), then-chief minister of the General Secretary of the Presidency of the Republic in 2013, say that the federal government would sit at the table with them but would not give up building the São Luiz do Tapajós plant.

The general captain of the 12,000 mundurucus, Arnaldo Kabá, replied that the tribe would not give up their sacred river. Juarez confirms the point: "They will have to kill me first. I won't walk out of there of my own accord."

NEW BELO MONTE

The São Luiz hydroelectric power plant is the next in line in the expansion portfolio of the electric sector. It will have a capacity of 8,040 megawatts (MW) and is likely to generate little more than 4,000 MW, which would be enough to supply a city of at least 8.5 million people.

Along with the Belo Monte plant (11,233 MW), also in the state of Pará, the São Luiz plant will be responsible for 68% of the increase in the capacity of hydroelectric generation by 2024.

This renewable resource of energy is facing the opposition of environmentalists and indigenous people and will increase from 90.000 MW to 117.000 MW.

The North region (which in fact means the Amazon) is home to the last great Brazilian rivers with unused hydroelectric potential. Using it would mean a 14% increase in the installed capacity, which would reach 23%.

From the viewpoint of firm power – that which the distribution system can count on –, São Luiz is not very different from Belo Monte. The São Luiz power plant to be installed on the Tapajós river is more efficient and forecasted to generate 4,012 MW in comparison with the 4,571 MW of Belo Monte, whose constructing on the Xingu river was controversial.

On the other hand, the new power plant will flood an area 40% bigger in the Amazon. And that would occur in a region that is more preserved than the surroundings of the city of Altamira - where the Trans-Amazonian Highway passes - and home to the Belo Monte plant.

In April, Ibama, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources suspended the licensing process of the plant based on reports made by Funai, which shows "irreversible" impacts.

UNION AND STRENGTH

While Volta Grande do Xingu is surrounded by more than a dozen indigenous groups and lands, the Médio Tapajós region is dominated by the mundurucus. In the 17th and 18th centuries, through war, they conquered and dominated a vast region of the territory between the Madeira and Xingu rivers, tributaries of the Amazonas river on the west side and of the Tapajós on the east.

"It is a different situation from the one the government faced with Belo Monte," says Danicley de Aguiar, a forest engineer who was appointed by Greenpeace to work in Sawré Muybu."They have union. They don't split up easily," says Aguiar.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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