24.06.2009
Indigenous people affected by the Hydroelectric Dam of Monjolinho participate in public audience

Tomorrow, (25/06), Indigenous people Kaingang will participate in a public audience in the Federal Public Ministry of Erechim-State of Rio Grande do Sul, which will deal with the social and environmental problems caused by the construction of the Hydroelectric Plant Monjolinho on Passo Fundo River, property of the Consortium Engevix. The audience is the result of an intense campaign of local indigenous people which columnated to a protest on 18/06 which was brutally repressed by police forces.

The indigenous people are enraged mainly with the fact that the Consortium has closed the floodgates of the dam without having resolved the problems with the dam affected families first, and in disobedience to the court order which demands the immediate halting of the filling of the reservoir. According to the Federal Regional Tribunal of the 4^th Region, filling up the reservoir will compromise the wellbeing of indigenous communities and cause “grave consequences to the indigenous community, due to the fact that it will hinder the evaluation and quantification of the impacts in their land, invalidating, by consequence, the implementation of the mitigation and compensation measures by the entrepreneur”. However, Engevix is not complying with this order and the dam’s reservoir is already almost full.

According to the Movement of Dam Affected People (MAB) the struggle of the indigenous people is legitimate and has to be respected. “We are part of this campaign and denounce the police brutality and the manner Engevix has been dealing with the case, disrespecting laws and the affected communities in the name of profits”. MAB wants to remind to everyone that the indigenous people have always been fighting for their rights and most of the time are repressed or disrespected. One example is what has been going for some months now with the indigenous people in Bagua-Peru, which columnated in this June in a serious and bloody conflict.

Some of the demands of the indigenous people are:

• Creation of a health post with facilities for long medical care and hiring of  a paediatrician and purchasing of a full equipped ambulance;

• Construction of houses;

• Construction of new ponds and recovery-repair of the already existing ones for aquaculture;

• Expansion of basic sanitation facilities;

• Permanent supply of free energy;

• Reforestation projects with native species and training/capacity building of community members as environmental agents in order to take over the reforestation process;

• Scholarships for indigenous people to follow university courses;

• Monthly salary for each family;

• Basic food baskets for each family every month.

The (ir)responsibility record of Engevix

It is not of today that Engevix disrespects the law. The consortium has been and is providing “services” in the hydroelectric plants of Baixo Iguaçu, Campos Novos, Mauá, Foz do Chapecó, Santo Antonio and Jirau. In all cases there are social, environmental and juridical issues pending.

Until today the Federal Police of the Federal District is investigating the involvement and responsibility of Engevix Engineering S/A in the fraud and negligence committed with the environmental licensing of the hydroelectric plant Barra Grande, due to the omission of the existence of one of the last remaining areas of native Araucaria forest of 4.236 hectares within the inundation area.

Regarding the indigenous issue, the company is investigated by the Federal public Ministry of Chapecó, for possible fraud in the Environmental Impact Report (RIMA) of the hydroelectric plant Foz do Chapecó, which stated that the formation of the reservoir “will not affect-inundate indigenous territories”, while the anthropological study requested by the construction company itself, contradicts the RIMA.

Contact: Abílio – +55 (54) 9975 7804