Agricultural cargo can reach Miritituba port again as indigenous tribe ends protest on highway

The Kayapó indigenous people, who have been protesting on the BR-163 highway since August 17th in Novo Progresso (PA), cleared the highway on Friday, August 21st.  The highway is an important transport route for agricultural commodities from the Midwest to Arco Norte, and the stoppages had been limiting the arrival of cargo at Miritituba Port (PA). This disruption occurred, moreover, in the middle of the runoff period for the second 2019/20 corn crop.

According to the Kabu Institute, linked to the indigenous people, they met with authorities in Pará, seeking to have their demands heard.  The institute reported that representatives from the departments of education, health, justice and human rights of the Pará government´s civil house, in addition to the assistance of Governor Helder Barbalho, met with Kayapó Mekragnotire leaders on the morning of the 21st to try to find a solution to the claims.

During the stoppages, the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (Abiove) claimed the role of the federal government, through the Ministry of Civil Affairs, to identify a solution that would definitively clear the track.  “If this did not happen, the future consequences would be a shortage in Miritituba and difficulties in receiving imported raw materials such as fuels and fertilizers,” said the association.

The indigenous people demand the renewal of the Basic Environmental Plan (PBA), ask for more attention to health due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and take a stand against the construction of the Ferrogrão railway without being heard, since the project involves laying down rail track near their land.

Source: Reuters

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