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In this week's News from Brazil:

The Acaua Dam:  Tragedy and Violation of Human Rights
Transposition of the Sao Francisco River Like Computer Full of Viruses, states Dom Cappio

The Acaua Dam:  Tragedy and Violation of Human Rights

Until the end of the 1990's, 4,500 rural families lived on the banks of the Paraiba River.  They lived in humble but dignified conditions.  Their houses were made of adobe, they ate what they planted on the fertile soil, they got their water from the river, and they had access to education, health and recreation--public services available to them in the municipalities of Itatuba, Natube and Aroeiras in the state of Paraiba.  This until the federal and state governments decided to dam up the river in order to make a reservoir.  This changed the lives of these families forever.  And it is easy to say if it was for the better or not.

Today in Brazil there are no laws which define and establish the rights of those who are affected by the building of dams.  There is not even a public office charged with issuing payments for land and resettling those who homes and lives are destroyed.  Thus, there are many cases of injustice and violation of human rights in the process of installing a dam.  The case of the Acaua Dam is one of the worst in the country.

The families who were affected by the construction of the dam were moved to "agrovilas," which really were villas without the agriculture.  The villa is simply a set of identical houses placed in what is essentially a desert, lacking the most basic conditions for decent human living--there are no public services nor is there means by which the families can return to their productive lives.  MAB (Movement of those Affected by Dams) has denounced the situation to officials, and according to Osvaldo Bernando da Silva, the MAB state coordinator in Paraiba, the families are not even able to plant and have come to depend on government food for survival: "The only way the people have been able to survive is through persistence.  After various protests and public audiences, MAB was able to secure government food and cisterns for the families."

The government's Special Defense Commission for Human Rights visited the resettlement project of those affected by the Acaua Dam last year, and presented a report confirming the denouncements MAB had made.  They suggested emergency measures to be taken by the federal and state governments.  Until today, not one measure has been taken.

The Federal Public Ministry of Paraiba has placed a civil law suit against the Union for not conferring means of livelihood that the inhabitants had possessed before the dam.  "This situation, of thousands of people being thrown into these housing projects in the middle of nowhere, making it impossible for them to engage in any productive activity, urgently demands the adoption of measures that may support the most elementary of necessities (food, school, pre-school, public health, public transportation, public security, recreation) for those being relocated until the governmental obligation to confer to these families a sustainable means of living is completed," argued the Public Ministry.

Acaua is not an isolated case.  In all states, those affected by dams are at the mercy of the dam company owners who are interested only in profit and not human rights.  In Acaua, there is much tension over the many injustices suffered.  But those families have not given up, and are ready to struggle for their rights.

Source:  Jornal do MAB, April 2009

Transposition of the Sao Francisco River Like Computer Full of Viruses, states Dom Cappio

by Marcelo Netto Rodrigues

On May 9th, Bishop dom Luiz Flavio Cappio received the Kant World Citizen Award from the Kant Foundation in Germany.  The award, given every two years to persons who are acknowledged human rights defenders, is the second international recognition given to the bishop in recognition of his work against the redirecting of the Sao Francisco River.  Cappio conceded the following interview with Brasil de Fato:

Brasil de Fato (BF):  You came to Germany to receive the World Citizen Award.  Last year, you were given an award from an organization based in Belgium.  Do you believe that it is possible to make the transposition of the Sao Francisco an international campaign?

Dom Luiz Flavio Cappio (DC):  Since the time we did the two fasts, this campaign already became known throughout the world.  We have received tremendous solidarity from many countries.  These awards are evidence of this.  Pax Christi, which is present in 54 countries, and the Kant Foundation here in Germany, have themselves taken up this cause in defense of the poorest people of the Brazilian Northeast.

BF:  A confrere of yours here in Germany said that your two fasts had at least two practical results:  first, the fasts stripped off the mask of a so-called popular government when a fork in the road was placed before the government and they opted for the other path; and second, the fasts made the CNBB (Conference of Brazilian Bishops) return to their agenda of a preferential option for the poor.  What else do you see as effects of the fasts?

DC:  Yes, besides these two aspects, I see a growing consciousness of the river folk, of the Brazilian nation, and of the world regarding the problem which was once so rarely discussed.  Another great victory was the unification of all of those who struggled for this cause.  Suddenly we saw indigenous, people from quilombos, academics, politicians all together, aligning themselves with this spirit of struggle, of the churches, of the movements.

BF:  Everything seems to indicate that President Lula will not be able to declare by the end of his presidency that he completed the transposition.  Do you really believe that he will arrive at the end of his presidency without the work being completed?

DC:  I don't believe this project will be completed.  No way do I believe it.  I always compare the transposition project to a computer full of viruses.  When you have an infected computer, eventually it comes to a moment when it just stops.  This project is so full of irregularities that suddenly it is going to freeze up.  There is no way it can move forward.  I don't believe it will reach the end.  And it won't satisfy Lula's vanity. 

BF:  Do you still expect something from the Lula government?

DC:  Well, I can't say that I hope for anything.  I can say that I did hope, I used to hope.  For this reason I struggled, I sweated so that the government would return to the best interests of the people.  And suddenly, we realized that the Lula government became hostage of the rich, of big transnational projects.  I was disappointed.  Today, I don't hope for anything more from the government, and I don't see a time of change in the government.  I wish it to be better.

BF:  Gandhi did nine fasts.  Have you completely ruled out the possibility of having one more fast?

DC:  I have not the slightest pretense of comparing myself to Gandhi.  But I think the fast has already achieved its objective.  It has already given a shout, and those who should hear have already heard.  I think the message has been sent.

Source:  Brasil de Fato, May 18, 2009

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