Alcohol Plant Tries to Secure Farms on Indigenous Land in Mato Grosso

[Judi Lynn]

Cooperative lawyer says there is no evidence of the existence of indigenous people, contrary to what Funai has attested for 20 years

Aug.31.2023 1:38PM

Vinicius Sassine

MANAUS
An alcohol and sugar plant that appears on a list of the largest companies in Brazilian agribusiness seeks to secure ownership of farms within a territory where isolated indigenous people live, in the northwest of Mato Grosso.

In order to do this, the company tries to erase the existence of indigenous people. This existence has been attested by Funai (National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples) for over 20 years. Coprodia (Agricultural Cooperative of sugar cane Producers from Campo Novo do Parecis), which claims to produce 180 million liters of ethanol and 2.7 million bags of sugar per year, claims in Federal Court the right to explore two farms in the Indigenous Land Kawahiva of Rio Pardo, in the region of Colniza (MT), on the border with Amazonas.

Documents on the properties, records from Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), and reports on the occupation of the area show that Coprodia has rural properties within the indigenous land. The information was confirmed to Folha by the cooperative's lawyer, Francisco Faiad.

"We carried out two inspections, and there is no trace of indigenous ownership. A request is in the Federal Court for the Coprodia area to be withdrawn from this demarcation in quotation marks", said Faiad. "The investigations found neither indigenous people nor traces." The first interdiction of the area was carried out in 2001 by Funai, in view of the existence of Kawahivas that chose to isolate themselves in the region. Expeditions carried out until 2006 found 45 temporary indigenous camps.

In 2007, Funai validated the conclusions of an anthropological report that attested to the existence and presence of indigenous people in isolation. In the same year, the agency determined a restriction on the use of the area until definitive demarcation. Admission is only authorized for members of Funai.

https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/scienceandhealth/2023/08/alcohol-plant-tries-to-secure-farms-on-indigenous-land-in-mato-grosso.shtml

[Bayard]

1. Stealing indigenous land is not unique to the U.S.

But its unconscionable anywhere, and greed wins.