Indigenous and quilombola groups organize against impacts of major infrastructure works in Pará State

In August 2020, a protest by Kayapo indigenous groups blocked highway BR-163, that connects Cuiabá (Mato Grosso state) to Santarém (Pará state) to demand the renewal of the Basic Environmental Plan - Indigenous Chapter (PBA-CI) linked to the environmental licensing necessary for the road construction, which started in 2008. Even considering health risks associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, the organized indigenous groups occupied BR-163 by the Novo Progreso Municipality in Pará, one of the main agricultural produce transport routes in the country. A federal judge issued an injunction allowing the Road Police to remove the blockade. After a week of occupation, the indigenous left and decided to wait for a court ruling on the matter.

A month later, the pressure seemed to have worked: in September, a judge ruled in favour of the indigenous and ordered the federal government to renew the PBA-CI to minimize and compensate damages of the road construction, according to a report by Repórter Brasil. The measures of the PBA include community protection and control of Indigenous Lands Menkragnoti, Baú and Panará and support to develop sustainable economic activities in the area influenced by highway BR-163.

In another community-based resistance initiative in Pará, on September 17th, the Federation of Quilombola Organizations in Santarém (FOQS) issued a formal request to assist the civil inquiry led by the Federal and State Prosecution offices against the construction of a fuel harbour by company Atem’s Petrol Distribution. Although 97% of the construction is already finished, a federal judge ruling in May stopped the building of the port.