Page 9 - MONTT GROUP LATIN AMERICAN MAGAZINE JANUARY, 2020(Ingles) .pdf

Brazil’s Indigenous Oppose Brazil’s Bolsonaro Opens Amazon Development Plans Up to Amazon Exploitation
The Brazilian federal Government is nalizing a bill that will be submitted to Congress in February, which provides for the exploitation of indigenous lands, one of President Jair Bolsonaro’s campaign promises.
The proposal authorizes not only mining in these areas, but will also o ers the possibility of building hydroelectric plants, oil and gas exploration. In the case of agriculture, the Government would also authorize the cultivation of genetically modi ed organisms.
In addition, “the exercise of economic activities by indigenous people in their lands”, such as agriculture, livestock, extraction and tourism will be allowed.
Situation of Aborigines
The communities affected by the project carried out in these lands will be consulted, but will not have any veto power, according to the text. They will receive, however, nancial compensation.
The Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, recently met with a dozen European diplomats to defend the Government’s plans to allow extractive activities in indigenous territories, which have generated criticism in Brazil and abroad. President Bolsonaro considers that the Brazilian aborigines, who represent one percent of the population of Brazil, are “hostages of the NGOs” and that they live “in millionaire zoos” that keeps them anchored in poverty, without taking advantage of the immense natural wealth they treasure their lands.
The Head of State promised to reduce
the waiting time to license small hydroelectric plants to a maximum of three months, instead of the decade that can sometimes lead to obtaining an authorization.
Brazil is the main producer of Latin American oil and minerals such as gold and iron, which made the country the world’s leading producer of the basic ingredient for steelmaking. The nation also has large reserves of bauxite, manganese, potash and zinc.
The extractive activities in these latitudes are not completely prohibited by the Brazilian Constitution, but, over time, the absence of criteria that govern them made mining in indigenous lands perceived as illegal. One of the few requirements that condition the extraction of natural wealth in these areas is the prior consultation of its inhabitants, but the result of it is not binding. That is to say, the Government’s plans could be consummated even if the majority of the original inhabitants of Brazil rejected mining in their regions.
Continue Plan of Privatizations
On the other hand, it was reported that Brazil is moving, in a determined way, with privatizations. The Government will seek to sell more than 300 public assets this year to raise USD $ 36 billion. These assets include several companies controlled by Eletrobras, the largest electricity company in Latin America. The goal of the Economy portfolio is to signi cantly reduce the number of organizations in which the State has a stake as a partner or shareholder. In
that sense, it will seek to get rid of at least 343 entities of more than 600 by the end of 2020.
To facilitate the process, the Government will present to the Congress a bill that establishes a fast track procedure to sell the state assets. The economic authorities indicated that they already have the bill ready and are studying the right time to present it to Congress.
It is not planned to privatize neither the Petrobras oil company nor the public banks, Banco do Brazil and Caixa Economica Federal, which are considered strategic for the country. But it was clarified that the Post O ice and Eletrobras are listed on the privatizable entities. In addition to the latter privatization, which still depends on the approval of Congress, the Government intends to sell several of the subsidiaries of the electricity group this year without consulting the Legislative.
In addition to its speci c program for transferring organization to the private sector, the Brazilian Government has another scheme to o er at least 127 concessions in areas such as Energy or Infrastructure. These concession projects include 11 railway lines, 23 ports, 24 power lines, 22 airports, 19 roads, four mineral deposits and two supply companies.
Since assuming his mandate on January 1, 2019, President Jair Bolsonaro has launched a policy of free market economy, aimed at clearing public accounts and reducing the size of the State through ambitious privatization and concession programs.
Montt Latin American Magazine p9