While the president of , , was inaugurated on Monday (20), a lawyer from Canaã dos Carajás (PA) sent messages to (-AP), present in Washington, asking her to invite Trump to the “Agro COP30” .
Just like the party member of , more than a dozen senators, federal and state deputies recorded videos confirming their participation in the event, scheduled for the beginning of October, in Marabá, in the southeast of Pará. The Agro COP will precede the official one, the largest world climate conference, scheduled for the following month, in the capital of Pará.
“The climate problem is global, and we, Amazonians, are not to blame, but we are penalized”, says lawyer Vinícius Borba, creator of Apria (Association of Independent Rural Producers) and main organizer of the Agro COP.
Data from Seeg (Greenhouse Gas Emission Estimation System of the Climate Observatory), however, show that in Brazil 74% of emissions are related in some way to the agricultural sector.
After Trump’s inauguration, Borba did a live on the club’s Instagram highlighting that the Republican’s election is a “thread of hope”.
In one of its first acts, on climate change, the objective of which is to keep the planet’s global warming below 1.5°C by the end of the century. He also promised a tough line against environmental restrictions.
When asked whether the Agro COP will have a climate denial bias, the lawyer denied it. He understands that developed countries, such as France, Norway and Germany, do not reduce their emissions and, therefore, would be the true deniers. “The real polluters are denying the climate issue,” he says.
Hours before Trump’s inauguration, on Monday morning, the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho (MDB), also used a social network to greet the new president and express the hope of welcoming him to COP30, the official one, organized by the UN .
“Whoever goes to COP30 is nothing more than a hypocrite,” said Borba in one of the several videos he posts on social media. Apria, created in September 2024, also published an invitation written in English on Instagram and tagged the president of the United States.
The association’s main demand is the role of rural producers in decisions about the Amazon. Another recurring theme is the questioning of the influence of NGOs on environmental policies.
“The impact that this event [COP do Agro] will have on COP30 is null”, assesses the international policy coordinator at the Climate Observatory, Claudio Angelo. The reason, according to him, is that the COP is not a Brazilian or Amazonian event, but an international one, organized by the UN.
“So, agriculture can shout, curse, kick as much as it wants, but it won’t change the reality of a multilateral event”, explains Ângelo, who recently launched (Companhia das Letras, 2024), in collaboration with Tasso Azevedo.
‘Environmental ecoterrorism’
One of the main enthusiasts of the Agro COP is senator Zequinha Marinho (Podemos-PA). In December, the parliamentarian accompanied lawyer Vinícius Borba through the corridors of Congress, citing his presence during a meeting of the FPA, the Agricultural Parliamentary Front, the institutional arm of the ruralist bench. On the occasion, Marinho also invited all FPA members to participate in the Agro COP.
“Count not only on my presence, but on all the support that my mandate as senator can give,” said Marinho, in a video recorded while receiving the invitation from Borba. Marinho was defeated in the last election for the government of Pará with 27.9% of the valid votes compared to 69% for Barbalho.
For the senator, the UN COP30 is “controlled by environmental ecoterrorism”. According to him, Amazon residents “can’t do anything” and need to “get on their knees to worship the forest.” Repórter Brasil asked for an interview with the senator regarding his participation in the Agro COP30, but, according to his advisor, he did not have an available time on his agenda.
Evangelical pastor and staunch Bolsonaro supporter, Marinho is a defender of the economic exploitation of indigenous lands and has already received in Brasília representatives from a gold cooperative investigated by the PF for illegal mining. He has also defended invaders of the Ituna/Itatá and Apyterewa indigenous lands, including a man identified by Ibama as the biggest land grabber in the Amazon.
Zequinha also had his name involved in anti-democratic acts after the 2022 elections. It was he who authorized the entry into Congress, in November of that year, of George Washington, the mastermind of the frustrated bomb attack at Brasília airport.
Other senators who received invitations from Borba and confirmed their presence were Wellington Fagundes (PL-MT), Jaime Bagattoli (PL-RO), Lucas Barreto (PSD-AP) and Plínio Valério (PSDB-AM).
“We can no longer be subjugated to these NGOs that manipulate, that dominate and control part of the judiciary. They are unfair to us and we have to correct this injustice today or tomorrow, sooner or later, we will achieve it together”, said Valério to receive the invitation.
Senator Lucas Barreto, in turn, attacked the minister of , Marina Silva (Rede-SP), saying that she left Acre and ran in the last election for São Paulo because “she was unable to live on chlorophyll or carry out photosynthesis in the Amazon” . In the senator’s view, the region’s residents live in a regime of “environmental slavery” with the people only contemplating nature.
In addition to federal deputy Silvia Waïapi, Joaquim Passarinho (PL-PA), who also went to the USA to attend Trump’s inauguration, accepted the invitation to participate in the Agro COP. Thiago Flores (Republicanos-RO) and the president of the FPA, Pedro Lupion (PP-PR) are among the parliamentarians who recorded videos with the event organizer.
Borba also sought out PT politicians, such as former senator Paulo Rocha, current superintendent of Sudam (Amazon Development Superintendence), and state deputy Dirceu Ten Caten. “The search for help and union of the sovereignty of the Amazon and the productive sector goes beyond these mimimis of political parties, beliefs or ideologies. We have to be strategic and intelligent”, wrote the lawyer in the post with one of the PT members.
Organizer defended irregular cattle ranchers
A central figure at COP30 for Agro, Vinícius Borba presents himself as an “Amazonian”, despite being born in Goiás. Known for his active presence on social media, he gained prominence during the deintrusion process (removal of irregular occupants) from the Apyterewa Indigenous Land , in Pará, in October 2023.
Borba went to Vila Renascer to defend himself. At the time, he said he was speaking on behalf of the OAB (Brazilian Bar Association) of Pará and the human rights commission. However, it was disapproved in a note published by the entity.
Repórter Brasil interviewed Borba for 50 minutes and questioned the difference in tone between the conciliatory statements given during the interview, as opposed to the aggressive speech on social media. He argued that the media often presents a distorted view of reality, listening to only a part of those involved. “We cannot be meek in the face of distortions and sensationalism”, he states.
In a publication, the association he created proposed six solutions for the Amazon. Among the proposals are the cancellation of COP30, the expulsion of NGOs, the extinction of programs that control production chains, such as the Beef TAC and the Soy Moratorium, the creation of “less environmentalist” laws and the annulment of indigenous lands and units of conservation. In another publication, Borba announces that he is available for lectures with the theme: “The truth about the Amazon”.
“Count on me to spread the word on our networks. We need to study what is happening and make decisions together in defense of the Amazon”, commented Luciano Guedes in the post. A cattle rancher from Redenção, Guedes supported the camps in Brasília, defending military intervention. Between August 2019 and July 2022, he held a commissioned position in the office of Senator Zequinha Marinho.
State deputies Aveilton Souza (PSD) and Wescley Tomaz (Avante) are also promoting the Agro COP and made videos about the event when they were in Azerbaijan, in November, during COP29.
Tomaz identifies himself as the deputy of the miners and was defeated in the last election for mayor of Itaituba (PA). Souza already commanded Incra (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) in Marabá during the Bolsonaro government.
Stage of land conflicts
Chosen as the headquarters of the Agro COP, Marabá is in a region that is the scene of historic massacres of landless rural workers, such as those in Eldorado dos Carajás and Pau D’Arco.
The expansion of the agricultural frontier, driven by the construction of roads such as the Transamazônica, during the military dictatorship, attracted migrants and agricultural companies, intensifying the dispute for land between squatters, farmers, land grabbers and loggers, explains the history professor at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. from Pará, Airton dos Reis Pereira.
Pereira highlights that, between 1985 and 2019, there were 49 massacres of landless rural workers in Brazil. Of this total, 40 were in the Amazon: 28 in Pará alone and 22 in the south and southeast region of the state.
The lack of land regularization and impunity fueled this violence, with the actions of gunmen and militias hired to expel squatters and landless people, often with the connivance of authorities and police, explains Pereira.
Rural workers were accused of being land “invaders” and “subversives” linked to communism, repeating the rhetoric used during the military dictatorship. The expression used by ruralists to justify violence was maintaining “national sovereignty”. The same phrase now used by rural producers linked to Apria.
This report was originally published.
