Brazil: Lula hires company suspected of illegal mining for work in indigenous area, says UOL

By Diógenes Freire

According to a report on the portal UOL, the Lula government hired, without bidding, the company Cataratas Poços Artesianos (Cataratas Artesian Wells) from Boa Vista in the state of Roraima to drill wells in Yanomami indigenous areas.

The wells were destined to supply water to a military base in the region known as Surucucu in Roraima.

The Army signed the contract on March 10 at the request of the Ministry of Health.

According to a survey by UOL, the contract was signed for R$185,000 (US$37,119).

A little more than a week after being contracted by the government, Cataratas received a new proposal from the Indigenous Health Secretariat (Sesai), which requested drilling another well to supply the health unit.

The idea would be to take advantage of logistics since the Sesai well would be about 1 kilometer from the first well.

According to the federal government, Sesai’s work was interrupted by “technical difficulties”.

Responsible for Sesai, the Ministry of Health, headed by Minister Nísia Trindade, told UOL that it did not pay Cataratas and informed that the company was chosen “given the difficulties of access that reduce the supply of services in the region.”

“No illegality of the company prevents it from providing the service […] The service only has to bring the best to the Yanomami community since the drilling of artesian wells aims to facilitate water supply,” said the Ministry.

INVESTIGATION

Despite the government’s claims, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) asked to suspend the contract with Cataratas because of the accusations against the company.

Even with the ongoing investigations, last Friday (5), the Federal Court authorized the conclusion of the work on the condition that the company leaves Yanomami territory as soon as it finishes the work.

In the decision that authorized the continuation of the work, the judge understood that the Army hired the company without a bidding process under the justification that the Yanomami territory was in a state of emergency.

“The loss caused by immediately halting the continuity of the services contracted by public agencies, which will allow access to water resources for the benefit of the local communities, prevails over the risk that the defendants will use these specific contracts to provide logistical support to illicit mining activity,” said the judge of the 4th Federal Court of Roraima, Rodrigo Mello.

THE CASE

In August 2021, the Federal Police (PF), Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), and Anac (National Civil Aviation Agency) found several evidence that the Cataratas headquarters was used as a base for illegal mining in the Yanomami area.

They found a GPS device at the site with markings of the indigenous territory, boxes with supplies for the miners, machinery, and 2 kilos of mercury used to separate gold from impurities.

According to the MPF, Cataratas employed 23 planes in the illegal mining operation and had daily helicopter flights to the indigenous land.

FRIENDLY COMPANY

This is not the first time that Cataratas has provided services for the PT government.

According to UOL, the company closed ten other federal government contracts from 2011 to 2021.

Almost all of the contracts were made through the Ministry of Health.

Cataratas has billed almost R$20 million to the federal government.

According to the UOL report, the company’s owner is Rodrigo Martins de Mello, known as Rodrigo Cataratas, leader of the “Garimpo é Legal” (Mining is Legal) movement.

Rodrigo has tried unsuccessfully to get elected to the state legislature thrice since 2012.

Despite his history with illegal mining and million-dollar contracts with previous PT governments, UOL linked the businessman to former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), given that Rodrigo ran for a seat in 2022 under the former president’s party.