Belo Monte Dam would be the third largest dam in the world and it would flood a large area of land, dry up
certain parts of the Xingu river, cause huge devastation to the Rain Forest and reduce fish stocks upon
which Indians in the area, including Kayapó, Arara, Juruna, Araweté, Xikrin, Asurini and Parakanã Indians,
depend for their survival. The livelihoods of thousands of
tribal people who depend on the forest and river for food and
water would be destroyed.
The influx of immigrants to the area during the construction
of the dam threatens to introduce violence to the area and
bring diseases to these Indians, putting them in great danger.
Belo Monte will inundate at least 400,000 hectares of forest,
an area bigger than the Panama Canal, destroying habitat
valuable for many species - all to produce electricity at a high
social, economic and environmental cost, which could easily
be generated with greater investments in energy efficiency!
A LETTER from the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil's Amazon Rain forest:
'We are the people who live in the rivers where you want to build dams. We are the Munduruku, Juruna,
Kayapo, Xipaya, Kuruaya, Asurini, Parakanã, Arara, fishermen and peoples who live in riverine
communities. We are Amazonian peoples and we want the forest to stand. We are Brazilians.
The river and the forest are our supermarket. Our ancestors are older than Jesus Christ.
You are pointing guns at our heads. You raid our territories with war trucks and soldiers. You have made the
fish disappear and you are robbing the bones of our ancestors who are buried on our lands.
You do this because you are afraid to listen to us. You are afraid to hear that we don’t want dams on our
rivers, and afraid to understand why we don’t want them.
You invent stories that we are violent and that we want war. Who are the ones killing our relatives? How
many white people have died in comparison to how many Indigenous people have died? You are the ones
killing us, quickly or slowly.
We’re dying and with each dam that is built, more of us will die. When we try to talk with you, you bring
tanks, helicopters, soldiers, machineguns and stun weapons.
What we want is simple:
You need to uphold the law and promote enacting legislation on free, prior and informed consent for
indigenous peoples. Until that happens you need to stop all construction, studies, and police operations in
the Xingu, Tapajos and Teles Pires rivers. And you need to consult us. We want
dialogue, but you are not letting us speak. This is why we are occupying your dambuilding site. You need to stop everything and simply listen to us.'
The Chief Raoni cries when he learns that Brazilian president Dilma released the
beginning of construction of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte, even after tens of
thousands of letters and emails addressed to her and which were ignored as the
more than 600,000 signatures.
That is, the death sentence of the people of The Great Bend of the Xingu River is
enacted.
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