Bolsonaro’s plan is working so far
Notwithstanding this criticism, protests and pleas, the mining law was revisited last week on the pretext of a possible shortage of fertilizers caused by the Ukraine war. And Bolsonaro’s plan worked: In an urgent procedure, the Chamber of Deputies approved the emergency motion on March 9 with 279 votes to 108 and three abstentions – without it having been discussed beforehand in a specialist or special commission. Proposal 191/2020 is now being examined in a working group and then goes to the plenum, which could happen soon because of the urgency requested.
The solution to the fertilizer problem does not depend on the exploitation of the deposits in the indigenous areas. A study by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) already showed in 2019 that most of the potassium deposits are outside the reserves.
Only eleven percent of the deposits are located in indigenous areas that are still going through a demarcation process. In any case, these have not yet been recognized as legally protected indigenous land and therefore cannot be used as a pretext for pushing through the mining law. This Amazonian potassium deposit is in a region on the lower reaches of the Rio Madeira, explains ISA’s Marcio Santilli, and is in the permitting phase. And even if it were on protected indigenous lands, war would not be an argument to undermine minority rights, said the 6ª Câmara de Coordenação e Revisão, a superior body linked to the Attorney General’s Office.
War as a diversionary maneuver
So who benefits from this controversial draft law? Certainly not the potassium degradation. Bolsonaro staged this “farce of fertilizer shortages” in order to enforce the urgency of the vote, says Marcio Satilli from the ISA.
© Ton Koene / picture alliance (detail)
Agricultural vs. Indigenous Land | Indigenous reservations are often the last barrier against deforestation. Here soy fields border directly on the Xingu Reserve.
The government is exerting pressure, said MP Rodrigo Agostinho from the Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development. In reality, it is about the economic exploitation of indigenous territories and about legalizing the hitherto illegal mining of gold, bauxite, rare earths and minerals. In the areas of the Yanomami on the border with Venezuela alone, over 20,000 illegal prospectors are digging up the earth, physically attacking the indigenous people and poisoning the rivers with mercury. Approval of the mining law would be the hardest hit yet to the territorial autonomy of tribal peoples.
“Anyone who thinks that this will save the Brazilian economy is wrong, because Brazil’s image will mean that financiers and investors will no longer support the Brazilian economy,” says Joênia Wapichana, the only indigenous parliamentarian in Congress. “There is no other way to solve this fertilizer problem than the expedited exploitation of natural resources, with a text whose content we do not even know exactly.” And she adds: “I would say that it is a tragic project, that brings death and destruction to the indigenous people.«