The president and founding partner of ISA, Márcio Santilli, denounces pressure from the company Potássio do Brasil to install its project in Amazonas
Article originally published on the Mídia Ninja portal, on 18/4/2021.
Last week, Ipaam, the Environmental Protection Institute of Amazonas, granted an installation license to the mining company Potássio do Brasil to explore a potassium deposit in Autazes. Despite its name, the company is controlled by international investment funds. It was created by the Canadian group Forbes & Manhattan, which currently only holds 14% of the shares, compared to 34% for CD Capital and 22% for Sentient, as well as other smaller shareholders.
Potássio do Brasil legally acquired mining rights in the region that previously belonged to Petrobrás. The company has other requirements contiguous to what was the subject of the license. However, the granted area is 10 km from the Murutinga/Tracajá Indigenous Land (TI), of the Mura people, with limits already identified, and an even shorter distance from Aldeia Soares, of the same ethnic group, which is on the banks of the lake of the same name. and whose territory is in the process of being identified by a working group constituted by Funai. The situation makes clear the need to federalize mine licensing, assigning it to Ibama.
If the area subject to the license is recognized as IT, the authorization would have to be suspended until the National Congress regulates research and mineral mining in this type of protected territory, as provided for in the Constitution. There is strong pressure for the Legislature to do so, just as there is an action in the STF, of unconstitutionality by omission, against Congress itself and proposed by the PP, the party of the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (AL). The action asks the STF to determine a period of another year for Congress to regulate the issue and that, if it fails to do so, the STF itself does so.
Increasing potash production is strategic for Brazil, which is an agricultural powerhouse. The country imports more than 90% of all the fertilizer it consumes and the chemical substance is essential for the production of this type of input. There are known deposits and researchable occurrences in other areas, in the Amazon and beyond, but, according to geologists who know the case best, the Autazes deposit is a “fillet”, due to its extension, proximity to the surface, potassium content and profit potential. There are strong reasons that lead Potássio do Brasil to become entangled among the Mura.
'Murification'
There are historiographic records, since the beginning of the 17th century, about the presence of the Mura in the Lower Madeira River region, where Autazes and other municipalities in Amazonas are located today. Since that time, they were recognized as a seafaring people, who were highly mobile and occupied extensive territories, and were in-depth knowledge of the labyrinth formed by lagoons, islands and channels, which characterizes the region.
The mobility and knowledge of the Mura greatly bothered the first colonization fronts that settled in the region. They were more feared than other groups and had a greater capacity to harass the colonizers through permanent guerrillas.
However, the characteristic of the Mura People that most bothered the invaders was not warlike in nature, but sociocultural: their ability to incorporate outsiders (their stories and knowledge) into their communities, whether through marriage, co-option or reception. of fugitive slaves. Official documents warned of the risk of “murification”.
'Caboclo mura'
Later, with the colonial fronts consolidated and relations, including commercial ones, established, the Mura exchanged their original language first for Nheengatu, a kind of indigenous lingua franca created by the Jesuits, and then for Portuguese. In this process, Mura groups and their aggregates assumed themselves as “caboclos” in their relationship with regional non-indigenous people, for whom “caboclo” was a name almost as pejorative as “indio”. But for the Mura, it was a more inclusive identity option, in opposition to the colonizers.
The ambiguity persists. In the 1990s, Funai demarcated four small Mura lands, reserved by the SPI, Indian Protection Service. But there are several other Mura occupations, including in Autazes, whose processes have not been completed or started. In the last government, Potássio do Brasil was instructed to consult only five Mura villages. A Federal Court decision expanded this set to 30, but it was suspended by the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region. Others, such as Aldeia de Soares, are being considered villages subject to removal.
If authorized, the extraction of potash in Autazes should take decades and result in a lot of money. This is not a one-off invasion of logging companies or a temporary lease agreement. This is not a temporary connection, but a long-term one. Potássio do Brasil should build a serious relationship with the Mura People and reject this ambiguity. But you are choosing discrimination. It reached an agreement with the Mura Association, which represents the villages of the Murutinga/Tracajá TI, but refuses to admit the others, including Aldeia Soares, in its area of direct interest.
The allied association is receiving financial support from Potássio do Brasil, even before mineral exploration begins, and has formally participated in events and meetings. The other groups are being considered non-indigenous, or indigenous people displaced from other areas by NGOs, missionaries or Funai supposedly just to harm mining.
Toxic relationship
The company and its allies enthusiastically celebrated the delivery of the license by Ipaam. Equipment is being allocated near Aldeia de Soares, without authorization, and the community's access to farm areas is being hampered. The Federal Public Ministry is appealing the injunction granted by the Court and the Funai working group must deliver its report to the agency's presidency. The relationship started badly.
The controversy regarding the Mura, which still promises many chapters, diverts attention to other implications of the mineral project that are not being clarified. The Lower Madeira region resembles a freshwater sea and contamination of the water by potassium salt residues can affect fish health and food security not only in the Mura but also in other traditional communities, such as riverside communities. Access roads, industrial plants and transmission lines will be built and they also bring significant socio-environmental impacts, such as immigration and deforestation.
Furthermore, what will the deposits look like after the potassium is extracted? Is there a risk of sinking, like what occurs in several neighborhoods in Maceió (AL), after the extraction of salt mare by Braskem?
For Potássio do Brasil, it would be better to support the completion of the recognition of indigenous territory by Funai and wait for the regulation of mining in ITs by Congress, as determined by the Constitution, than to adhere to discrimination against the Mura to hasten the license and the beginning of exploration.