11.06.2008
Via Campesina denounces agribusinesses and energy model in 13 states
Protests point out the responsibility of agribusiness for the current food prices inflation and question the diversion of Rio São Franciso and the energy model

Via Campesina and urban workers of the Popular Assembly carried out a series of campaigns and protests for the problems caused by big and especially foreign companies in the country, which are scandalously benefited by the current agribusiness model and the general neoliberal politics of the government.

Protests took place in the States of Pernambuco, Paraíba, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Santa Catarina, Alagoas, Paraná, Tocantins and Rondônia. The economic model based on monopolistic practices of transnational corporations of the energy and agricultural sector in particular, sacrifices the living standards of the general population with the rising food and energy prices.

The protests denounce the speculative practices of transnational companies and financial capital, which are imposing sugarcane and eucalyptus monocultures and lead to the elevation of food prices. The global agricultural market is controlled in all its aspects from production to distribution from a mere 40 companies.

In the northeast, social organizations denounce that the diversion of Rio São Francisco will benefit only the big land owners and agribusinesses. According to the government 4% of water goes to the rural population and 26% for the urban, while the rest 70% is goes to agribusinesses.

In Rondônia, hundreds of members of MAB and Via Campesina blocked the BR 364 highway in Candeias do Jamari, 20 Km from Porto Velho, which links the State capital to Cuiabá. The highway is the main transport route of soy from the State of Mato Grosso. The mobilization aimed to denounce the deforestation of the Amazon region, the illegal occupation of vast areas for soy production and the construction of the hydroelectric complex of Rio Madeira.

In Tocantins, people affected by the Estreito hydroelectric dam blocked the railway owned by Vale in the municipality of Darcinópolis, State of Tocantins. Around 400 people paralysed the traffic of trains which carry materials for the construction of the railway which will link the Port of Itaqui in Maranhão to the municipality of Senador Canedo in Goiás.

After construction, the railway will transport soy produced in the Amazon region and mineral iron for Vale. In addition to denouncing the illegal deforestation of the Amazon and Cerrado forests for soy plantation, the protestors demand the respect of the agreements between them and Vale, the constructor of the railway.

In Paraná, around 300 farmers from the Movement of Dam Affected People and Via Campesina camped at the hydroelectric plant Salto Santiago in Paraná, protesting against the Franco-Belgian owner of the dam, Suez-Tractebel. It is the second time this year that the plant is occupied by rural workers. They also protest against the law prohibiting farmers to live closer than 100 metres from ciliary forest around the dam´s reservoir. The protestors demand a negotiation with government to solve the problems of the dam affected people of the region.

In Pernambuco, the acts focused on the expansion of sugarcane plantations inside the forest zone. Around 200 workers occupied the Sugarcane Experimental Station (EECAC), in the municipality of Carpina (PE). The expansion of sugarcane monoculture in the region is considered the major reason for the increased misery of the local population and land concentration in the hands of few landowners.

The protesters destroyed a research laboratory which contained wild type and genetically modified seedlings. They also cut down 2 of the total 100 hectares of sugarcane planted in the station, which is a Public Private Partnership between Sindaçúcar – Syndicate of Sugar and Alcohol Industries of the State of Pernambuco, where 20 of the major sugar and ethanol plants of the state, belong – and the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco.

In Espírito Santo, around 500 members of Via Campesina protested against the expansion of sugarcane monocultures in the state. The mobilization took place in the municipality of Montanha, where a new ethanol plant of the foreign company Infinity Bio-Energy will be constructed. The company was founded in 2006 with headquarters in Bermudas and has already bought all the ethanol plants in the north of the state.

The north region of Espírito Santo is planted with around 40.000 hectares of sugarcane and its expansion will be stimulated by both the Infinity Bio-Energy which seeks to become the global leader in agrofuels production and by the state government which aims to increase ethanol production by 133% according to the Strategic Plan for Capixaba Agriculture (PEDEAG).

In São Paulo, around 600 farmers-members of Via Campesina and Popular Assembly occupied a building belonging to Votorantim, in a move seeking to denounce the environmental impacts from the construction of the Tijuco Alto Dam on Rio Ribeira de Iguape, which crosses the States of São Paulo and Paraná. The Military Police entered the building and attacked the protesters with teargas.

Ibama has rejected twice the Environmental Impact Assessment Study (EIA/Rima) presented by the company. Votorantim sent a new report in 2005 but has not received a conclusive reply from Ibama. There are still two issues to be clarified; the first has to do with the legal conditions for the possible inundation of caves (there are two in the area) and the other refers to the right to use water from Rio Ribeira, with the later issue dealt by the National Water Agency (ANA).

The Environmental Impact Report (Rima) of the project, claims that 51.8 km² will be inundated, with 46% of this area being farmland and 35% as graze land. The Rima states that 689 families will be expelled by the dam, while all the energy produced by the plant will be forwarded to CBA (Brazilian Aluminium Company), which belongs to the Votorantim group.

The basin of Rio Ribeira posses exceptional biodiversity due to the fact that its more than 2,1 million hectares of forests, represent approximately 21% of the remaining Atlantic Forest, making it the biggest continuous extension of this extremely important biome for the country. All this biodiversity is threatened by the four projected dams for the region: Tijuco Alto, Funil, Itaoca and Batatal.

The projected investment has been causing significant unrest and resistance among the people living in the Valley of Rio Ribeira. For more than 20 years, the company has been trying to construct the Tijuco Alto Dam on Rio Ribeira de Iguape, without success so far.

In Paraíba, more than 200 rural workers of Via Campesina occupied the farm Nossa Senhora de Lourdes with around 1.100 hectares of sugarcane monoculture, at 5 km from the city of Mari. The property belonging to Carlos Ribeiro Coutinho is producing sugarcane for the ethanol plant Jacungu.

Last Sunday, around 150 families occupied a farm in Várzeas de Sousa and remained camped in order to denounce the government and its project to expand agribusinesses in the region which will benefit the Seeds Group Santana.

In Ceará, around 1300 members of MAB and Via Campesina occupied the Industrial and Port Complex Pecém, in the Municipality São Gonçalo do Amarante around 60 km from the State Capital of Ceara, Fortaleza.

The protesters criticized the diversion of Rio São Francisco and the current economic and energy model of the country. They affirmed that “the diversion, as well as the economic and energy models, favour exclusively multinational corporations and not the Brazilian people, therefore we protest here in the Pecém complex where the representatives of this model have installed their bases”.

The port is the export point for fruits produced in the Valley of São Francisco, which will be irrigated further by the project for the diversion of the river. The protesters affirmed that the diversion will definitely neglect the people of the northeast, the same people that are forbidden to take water from 70% of the current public wells of the region. According to them, “the political and economic interests of the region, exclude the small land owners and favour land concentration in the hands of foreign investors”.

The protesters also highlighted the severe impacts of the complex to the health of local people. Studies point to an elevation of cancer frequency due to the chemicals released in the atmosphere and acid rain, which, depending on the winds can fall in a radius of 300 km.

In Bahia, farmers of Via Campesina occupied the Sobradinho hydroelectric plant, protesting against the big irrigation projects aiming to supply big farmers and agribusinesses. These projects include the diversion of Rio São Francisco, Pontal Sul in Petrolina and the project Salitre in the city of Juazeiro.

In the case of the Pontal Sul irrigation project, around R$ 250 million were invested from the government and then it was privatized according to a Public Private Partnership plan.

In Alagoas, in the lower Rio São Francisco, around 1500 workers mobilized at the Hydroelectric Plant of Xingó. They were members of social movements, organizations and traditional communities from the States of Alagoas, Sergipe, Pernambuco and Bahia. The protest denounces the forthcoming damages from the diversion project and the new dams projected in the region.

In Rio Grande do Sul, rural and urban workers occupied last Tuesday the food and seeds transnational company Bunge, in the city Passo Fundo in the north of the state. Farmers and workers denounced the monopolistic practices of food and seeds companies like Bunge.

According to a study from the Ministry of Agriculture, Bunge which is present in Brazil since 1938, has established a monopoly in the fertilizers sector and has contributed significantly to the recent elevation of food prices. In addition, Bunge was denounced by prosecutors in 2007 for selling transgenic soy oil without informing the consumers for this.

Around 300 rural workers occupied the Hydroelectric Plant of Itá, in the division between the States of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. The plant belongs to the Franco-Belgian transnational company Suez-Tractebel.

Suez-Tractebel is the biggest foreign energy production company in Brazil, with 6 hydroelectric and 7 thermoelectric plants. According to the company itself, in 2007, its net profits soared to R$ 1,05 billion, 6,8% more than 2006.

In Santa Catarina, mobilizations took place in two regions of the state. Around 700 workers blocked the entrance of paper and cellulose company Klabin, which owns around 160.000 hectares of eucalyptus and pine monocultures in the state. In addition, the protestors distributed 500 seedlings of native trees and 15 tons of food produced in an Agrarian Reform settlement, to the people in the city Otacílio Costa.

The protesters also planned to plant hundreds of native trees seedlings in an act of resistance to the “green desert” imposed by the companies of the cellulose sector.

In the municipality Maravilha, 1200 members of Via Campesina blocked the BR 282 highway which gives access to the city, protesting against the practices of Aurora, one of the biggest agribusinesses in the region.

In Minas Gerais, more than 500 members of social movements and entities of the Popular Assembly blocked the railway in São Geraldo in the metropolitan area of Belo Horizonte. Popular Assembly demands the immediate relocation of the railway, a meeting with Vale and compensation for the families of people killed or mutilated by the trains of Vale.

The districts of São Geraldo, Caetano Furkim, Boa Vista, Casa Branca and Vila Mariana de Abreu have been demanding the relocation of the railway for more than 25 years. In 2007 they blocked the railways in two occasions, however none of the promises made were fulfilled. Vale´s trains carrying minerals and passengers, pass outside the Municipal School Pe. Francisco Carvalho Moreira, making classes impossible. The railway has also compromised the structure of nearby houses while the trains can block traffic for more than two hours due to their extension and speed. In addition, in the last two years, four people have died trying to cross the tracks.