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A6 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 16 March 2023

Musk brought internet to Brazil’s Amazon. Criminals love it.

By FABIANO MAISONNAVE environment agency, told
Associated Press the AP in a phone inter-
ATALAIA DO NORTE, Bra- view.
zil (AP) — Brazilian federal “This technology is extreme-
agents aboard three heli- ly fast and really improves
copters descended on an the ability to manage an il-
illegal mining site on Tues- legal mine,” Loss said. “You
day in the Amazon rain- can manage hundreds of
forest. They were met with mining sites without ever
gunfire, and the shooters setting foot in one.”
escaped, leaving behind Another official with the
an increasingly familiar find environment agency told
for authorities: Starlink inter- AP it is just beginning to
net units. expel miners from the Ya-
Starlink, a division of Elon nomami territory and the
Musk’s SpaceX, has almost spread of Starlink has com-
4,000 low-orbit satellites plicated that mission. The
across the skies, connect- official spoke on condition
ing people in remote cor- of anonymity because of
ners of the Amazon and concerns about personal
providing a crucial advan- safety.
tage to Ukrainian forces on An unauthorized reseller
the battlefield. The light- of Starlink in Boa Vista, the
weight, high-speed internet gateway for travel into
system has also proved a Yanomami territory, has
new and valuable tool for been marketing the units
Brazil’s illegal miners, with In this handout photo provided by the Ministry of Communication, Brazil’s then-President Jair in a WhatsApp group for
reliable service for coordi- Bolsonaro, left, and Tesla and SpaceX chief executive officer Elon Musk shake hands during a illegal miners and promis-
nating logistics, receiving meeting in Porto Feliz, Brazil, May 20, 2022. Associated Press ing same-day delivery. Her
advance warning of law price for a terminal is $1,600
enforcement raids and disrupted traditional Indig- Brazil for launch of Starlink negotiate with a group of six times what Alves pays
making payments without enous life, brought disease for 19,000 unconnected tourists via conference call. for service at his little hotel
flying back to the city. and caused widespread schools in rural areas & en- Today, internet at his 11- in Atalaia do Norte.
Agents from the Brazilian famine. vironmental monitoring of room hotel in Atalaia do Others are selling the Star-
environment agency’s spe- The environment agen- Amazon,” Musk tweeted at Norte is more reliable than link terminals on Facebook
cial inspection group and cy, known as Ibama, has the time. in Manaus, and he bought groups for illegal miners,
the federal highway police seized seven Starlink termi- That project with the gov- a second terminal for his like one called “Fanatics for
rapid response group on nals in Yanomami land over ernment hasn’t advanced, tour boat to enable com- Prospecting.”
Tuesday found one Starlink the past five weeks, the however. SpaceX and the munications on its 10-day As lawbreakers have
terminal up and running agency’s press office said. communications ministry voyages, Alves said. gained access to superior
next to a pit, an officer who Illegal miners have long haven’t signed any con- With high demand for in- internet service, authorities
participated in the raid told used satellite internet to tract, and only three termi- ternet, dozens of the river- have started using Starlink
The Associated Press. He communicate and coor- nals were installed in Ama- side town’s 21,000 residents themselves.
spoke on condition of ano- dinate, but until now that zon schools for a 12-month flock to Alves’ hotel each Federal agents installed a
nymity over concerns for his entailed sending a techni- trial period, the ministry’s day. Its balcony is a meet- terminal at a new check-
personal safety. cian, usually by plane, to in- press office said in an ing point for teenagers who point on the Uraricoera Riv-
They also seized mercury, stall a heavy, fixed antenna emailed response to ques- spend hours playing online er an important corridor for
gold and ammunition, and that cannot be carried off tions. games on their phones. miners entering Yanomami
destroyed fuel and other when mining sites move or Nevertheless, Starlink has “It made a revolution in our territory. The official who
equipment used by miners are raided. And the con- taken off in the region and city,” Alves said. informed the AP about the
in an area known as Ouro nection was slow and un- begun ushering in change. A world away, in Ukraine, Tuesday raid used Starlink
Mil, controlled by Brazil´s stable, especially on rainy In Atalaia do Norte, on the Starlink has yielded advan- to send photos and even
most feared criminal orga- days. western reaches of the tages on the battlefield in heavy video files of their
nization, known as the First Starlink which first became Brazilian Amazon near the its war with Russia. operation.
Command of the Capital, available in Brazil last year borders with Peru and Co- Ukraine has received some Brazil’s environment agen-
according to federal inves- and has spread rapidly lombia, Rubeney de Cas- 24,000 Starlink terminals that cy told the AP via email

tigations. solved those problems. In- tro Alves installed Starlink allow continued internet in that it, along with other
Since taking office this stallation is do-it-yourself, at his hotel in December. the most vulnerable regions federal bodies, is studying
year, President Luiz Inácio the equipment works even Now, he can make bank of the southeast even amid how to block Starlink’s sig-
Lula da Silva has sought on the move, speed is as transfers and conduct vid- ongoing Russian shelling. In nal in illegal mining areas,
to crack down on environ- fast as in Brazil´s large cities eo calls. He even started large Ukrainian cities, au- calling it crucial to stopping
mental violations, particu- and it works during storms. bingeing Netflix. thorities have set up “points the activity.
larly illegal mining in Yano- Starlink has long viewed “There are so many new of resilience” that offer free The AP emailed James
mami land, Brazil’s largest the Amazon as an opportu- things to watch that I’m not internet along with hot bev- Gleeson, SpaceX’s Com-
Indigenous territory. nity. That was underscored even sleeping,” Alves said, erages. munications Director, ques-
In recent years, an esti- by Musk’s visit to Brazil last chuckling. The benefits of connectiv- tions about Starlink’s pres-
mated 20,000 prospectors May, when he met with His son once flew all the ity were immediately ap- ence in Brazil and its use
contaminated vital water- then-President Jair Bolson- way to Manaus, the state parent to bad actors in the by illegal miners in remote
ways with mercury used to aro. capital 1,140 kilometers Amazon, Hugo Loss, opera- areas, but received no
separate gold. They have “Super excited to be in (708 miles) away, just to tions coordinator for Brazil´s response.q