Illegal Miners React to Inspection Operation and Demand Bolsonaro Protect Them

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Miners operating illegally in the Crepori national forest, in Pará, distributed audio and video clippings calling on residents to react against the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) inspections and questioning President Jair Bolsonaro.

IBAMA and Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) inspectors and National Force agents acted last week in the region and burned backhoes and machinery used to destroy the environment.

There were thousands of miners operating illegally in the forest, according to members of the operation.

Backed by the environmental legislation used several times in previous years but which has suffered recent attacks by Bolsonaro, inspectors decided to incinerate the equipment because there was a risk of miners attacking the inspection during the towing of machines – there have already been several similar attempts recently.

The incineration led the miners to react in cell phone app groups and social media.

“Look, this is our President Bolsonaro’s order. They burned everything belonging to the workers. A million Reais incinerated here, a PC [backhoe] in the reserve. [He said] he wouldn’t burn anything anymore. […] ICMBio and the National Force burnt everything here,” said a miner while filming the fire.

In the video, he acknowledged that the destruction took place “in the reserve,” a public property protected by law.

“Where are you, Bolsonaro, who was going to do something and was not supposed to set it on fire. Why didn’t they take it to donate to some institution? That’s our president’s order, and we voted for him. Look here,” complained another prospector.

Elsewhere in the forest, a miner filmed a backhoe loader in flames.

“Look at the situation. We are here inside the reserve. A Caterpillar excavator. I wanted you, Bolsonaro […] to watch this video and explain to Brazil why this is happening out there. You said it wasn’t going to happen anymore,” he said.

On audio distributed through a cell phone app, miners even contemplated a physical response against the IBAMA and ICMBio inspectors, which never happened.

On audio, a miner urged his colleagues to lock the inspectors inside the reserve: “Hey, I think we should block the exit of these trucks. And call the population and not let these ‘S.O.B.s’ get out of here. Boy, there’s no order from the government to do this”.

“The government is in favor of mining. This is against the law. We have to lock these bums up. The population of Moraes [de Almeida, a village of Itaituba], the miners of Moraes, how many thousand miners are there in Moraes? A loss like this. Gather everyone and lock them there.”

At the end of the week, miners started to organize a roadblock of BR-163 near Itaituba which, according to them, should start at 6 AM on Monday, September 9th. A mining leader identified as Ricardo said that the protest will also be supported by loggers and businessmen from several cities in the region, such as Novo Progresso.

“So we are going to gather everyone on the BR [highway], whoever is able to be there for sure will be helping. […] We are going to seal off BR in [a place known as] Rodeio”.

“We are going to place an excavator there on the front. We’re going to request an end to this burning, we’re going to ask to regulate prospecting”, says the mining leader.

On Sunday, September 8th, miners began to spread a notice about the protest on the highway.

“We demand that the mines be legalized and especially for IBAMA/ICMBio to stop the destruction of equipment by fire,” says the virtual flyer.

The legalization of “more than 800” mines in the Amazon was suggested by Minister Ricardo Salles himself (Environment) in an interview with Folha last month.

The report found that inspections by IBAMA, ICMBio and the National Force took place last week in three protected areas: Kaiaby indigenous land, in Mato Grosso, and the Crepori and Jamanxim national forests, in Pará.