In August last year, the experts released decree 12,600, including thousands of kilometers of waterways in stretches of the Tapajós, Madeira and Tocantins rivers in the National Privatization Plan. The initiative opened the way for studies to evaluate a possible concession of navigability, dredging and channel maintenance services. For years, the Northern Arc of the Amazon, with its river routes, has transported around 40% of national soy and corn exports.
Since the signing of the decree by , a dozen people have been fighting what they call the sale of these rivers. As with the possible oil reserves in the Equatorial Margin, the government says it only intends to study the option. It’s combined like this. The decree talks about exemption from environmental licensing. (Illegal mining has polluted the Tapajós riverbed with mercury and dredging would turn over the land, contaminating the waters.)
As the second half passed, the case seemed to be just a war of words.
On January 22, the situation changed: indigenous people and their allies blocked truck access to the Cargill terminal in the port of Santarém. Cargill operates in 70 countries and is one of the largest grain traders in the world. In 2021, it exported 6 million tons through this terminal.
Protesters called for the repeal of decree 12,600. (Cargill has nothing to do with the current state of the debate surrounding the August decree.) Other blockades followed. On February 13, the Federal Regional Court granted the company an injunction giving 48 hours for the blockade to be ended. Words in the wind. Six days later, a Cargill barge was intercepted.
In the early hours of February 21, protesters doubled down and invaded the Cargill terminal, 42 employees took shelter for three hours in locked rooms. An angry protester said in a video that he would destroy terminal facilities.
It wasn’t necessary. On Monday (23), the government revoked decree 12,600 and its effects. He ordered everything to stop, including neutral analyzes of the Tapajós river waterway and sections of the Madeira and Tocantins rivers.
For those who play with the pens of Brasília, the case would be solved. The Cargill terminal was invaded, the decree was revoked and everyone began to live in the peace of the Amazon.
There was no need to agree with Cargill. The company finances projects to plant cocoa in Pará, including in degraded pasture areas. There is a study for it to invest up to US$250 million in cocoa cultivation in the region, generating thousands of jobs and benefiting indigenous populations. (In the last five years, Cargill has invested more than R$8 billion in Brazil.)
Faced with the events in Santarém, with the exposure of the legal uncertainty it produced, in a matter of days the Amazon cocoa project migrated to Ecuador.
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