Visit our home page at:  http://www.braziljusticenet.org

Dear News from Brazil readers,

We received word from the Land Commission in the state of Pernambuco that letters sent to the Ministry of Planning were effective in regards to the situation of the Sirinhaem Islands.  The leasing of the land to the Trapiche Sugar Mill has been definitively cancelled!  (For details, go to www.braziljusticenet.org/urgent actions.)  Thank you to all who participated in the letter-writing campaign!

In this week´s edition of News from Brazil:

• In Search of Profit, Aluminum Company President Ignores Environmental Disaster
• Newest Study Shows Youth Entering Prison at Alarming Rate

In Search of Profit, Aluminum Company President Ignores Environmental Disaster
by Rui Kureda

At the beginning of this month, public hearings in the cities of Cerro Azul, Adrianopolis, Ribeira and Eldorado (in the states of Parana and Sao Paulo) brought to attention the highly polemical Hydroelectric Plant of Tijuoco Alto (UHE) project.  In reality, these hearings were only the most recent in a series of episodes from a battle which has dragged on for two decades.  On one side is Antonio Ermirio de Moraes, investor and current president of CBA (Brazilian Aluminum Company).  On the other side are "quilombo" communities (communities of descendants of runaway slaves), indigenous populations, river-dwellers, environmentalists, and social movements like Moab (Movement of those Threatened by Dams).

Businessman Antonio Ermirio is known for his drive against environmental licensing, which he sees as an obstacle to development.  Certainly, his track record shows that he acts in accord with his discourse:  he has often been denounced for violating the environment.  In 2005, for example, MAB (Movement of those Affected by Dams) and Terra de Direitos (a Brazilian land rights NGO) denounced both CBA and Alcoa Aluminum to the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development.  The groups accused these two companies of violating human, cultural, economic and environmental rights in their construction of the hydroelectric plant of Barra Grande in the south of the country.

Over the last two decades, Ermilia's attempts at gaining preliminary licensing for the construction of the UHE project have been frustrated several times.  The last attempt was in 2003, when Ibama (the Brazilian environmental protection agency) rejected the company's environmental impact study, considering it to be incomplete.  Persistent, Ermilia ordered his company to do a new environmental impact study, which he submitted to Ibama in October of 2005. 

For Ermirio, the delay in granting the license for the construction of the plant is a lack of "courage and competency" on the part of the government.  The tenacity with which he has pursued the project is, however, not explained by his regard for "progress" or "development."  CBA plans to expand its Sao Paulo production by 30%.  A the same time, it plans to maintain its same level of energy self-sufficiency, which currently is at 60%.  The plant, if it is to be constructed, would have the sole purpose of providing abundant, cheap energy to the company.

This is one of the main points that the social movements attack.  It is one more case of the country's current energy model:  concentrating privileges to companies while neglecting the needs of the general population.

The impacts of the UHE project would be immense.  It would be enough just considering that the Ribeira de Iguape River is the last river in Sao Paulo free of dams.  Further, in 1999, the Ribeira Valley was named "Natural Patrimony of Humanity," as it is home to 21% of the remaining Atlantic Rainforest.  The dam would flood 11,0000 hectares and cause enormous damage to vegetation and fauna in the valley.  But there is yet another factor to consider.  In the past, one of the principal economic activities of the Ribeira Valley was the mining and extraction of lead.  The residuals of this activity still remain, and if the dam were to be constructed and flood the area, the river could be contaminated, putting at risk the health of river-dwellers, animals and fish.  Besides this, the project would cause damage to the Iguape-Cananeia-Paranagua estuary.  The cities of this region receive a large quantity of sediment and nutrients from the rivers of the region, in particular from the Ribeira de Iguape River.  Finally, CBA's plans do not restrict themselves to just one plant--three more are in the workings.

The Ribeira Valley is one of the poorest regions in the state of Sao Paulo.  Its population is made up of descendents of runaway slaves, indigenous peoples, fishermen, and river-dwellers, all who have a subsistent lifestyle.  The construction of the plant will not bring one benefit to the people of this region.  Not one watt of energy will be available for their use.  Thousands will be expelled from their lands.  They will be forced to move to the shantytowns of nearby cities where not only will they live in precarious conditions, but will have no way of sustaining themselves through traditional practices.  There are already cases where this is reality, as mentioned in the public hearings. 

Angela Biagioni, a coordinator for Moab, explained that in one of the hearings, residents from Juquia (Sao Paulo) testified that after a dam was built in their region, poverty and misery only increased.  "This shows that when CBA says that the dam will bring progress to the region, they are lying.  In other hearings in Parana, various testimonies were given in which inhabitants said the company forced them to sell their lands.  Many of these people ended up in the shantytowns," said Biagioni.

Further, the plants generate very few new jobs, contrary to the claims of the company.  The environmental impact study furnished by the company itself admits that only 60 permanent jobs will be created.  Because of the their technical character, most of these jobs will not be filled by local residents.  The company advertises that 1,700 jobs will be created, but does not mention that these are temporary jobs, which besides being dangerous, are poorly remunerated.

Source:  Brasil de Fato, July 12-18, 2007

Newest Study Shows Youth Entering Prison at Alarming Rate
By Eduardo Scolese

The latest study out by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice shows that every hour, at least seven men between the ages of 18 to 29 enter into the Brazilian prison system.  This rate--68, 400 per year--is 58% greater than the number who leave the prison system, 43,200 per year.  This means that 187 young men enter every day, while only 118 leave. 

The numbers taken from the last 12 months were released with the unveiling of the new National Program of Public Security and Citizenship (Pronasci).  The objective of the program is to integrate security measures with social policies.  The 40 components of the program with have a cost of US$500 million per year.  The initial focus of the program will be in 11 metropolitan regions, each to receive a new prison just for youth.  Of the 240,000 young prisoners in the country, 65% (160,000) are in these 11 metropolitan regions (in the states of Alagoas, Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Pernambuco, Bahia, Para, Parana, Federal District, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul), which were chosen by the federal government based on their high number of homicides.

One of the problems the program will face is recidivism.  "Of all who enter into the penitentiary system, 70%, including youths, are repeat offenders.  If by the year 2010 we can reduce this rate by half, that would by an extraordinary thing," said Tarso Genro, the Minister of Justice.  "The youth that we are looking for are those who don't want to go to the state's social programs, who are not received into the social programs, who have their life controlled by crime.  And the youth whose family is torn apart."

According to the Secretary General of the Presidency, of the 50.5 million Brazilian youths between the ages of 15 and 29, 4.5 million are considered to be at-risk, as they have no elementary schooling, are not enrolled in school, and are unemployed.  One alarming statistic is that the illiteracy rate among young prisoners is 15%.  Because of this, Pronasci has a plan which diminishes prison time for those who study.  They will take exams and will have two days taken off their sentence for every 20 hours of study.

Recently, the Ministry of Justice sponsored a series of debates over the program with social entities and movements.  In the presentations, the government highlighted its plans to do "occupations" of areas infamous for high crime rates.  [A "occupation" has been happening in one such area in Rio de Janeiro since May 2 of this year.  So far, 44 have been killed by police, 19 of whom on June 27].  Rosiana Queiroz, of the National Movement of Human Rights, expressed concern about this element of the program.  "I have few illusions in relation to government programs.  Principally because President Lula has a very narrow and mistaken vision concerning the relation between public security and human rights," said Queiroz.  "This 'occupation' of territory is worrisome in relation to the violation of human rights.  An occupation should be done over a long period of time."

Source:  Sucursal de Brasilia

The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is cited. If you wish to contact us, send a message to bjn@braziljusticenet.org. If you wish to be removed from our email list, go to www.braziljusticenet.org/subscribe and follow instructions.