Cargill's dry bulk terminal in the city of Santarém, Pará state, was the scene of a protest by Indigenous people on Monday (4). The Kayapó, Munduruku and Panará peoples demonstrated against what they called "tracks of destruction" of Ferrogrão (the combination of the Portuguese word for railroad and crops). The railroad project is defended by agribusiness giants and repudiated by Indigenous and Quilombola peoples, fishermen and small farmers.
Alongside banners and posters calling for "No Ferrogrão", Indigenous leader Alessandra Korap Munduruku chanted the motto "Cargill out", repeated in chorus by the crowd. Protesters who are on the route of the almost 1000 km railroad say they were not consulted about its socio-environmental impacts, including the deforestation of 50,000 km², an area larger than the state of Rio de Janeiro.
The destination of the soy and corn crops devastating the Amazon in western Pará, the Cargill’s bulk terminal was built on an ancestral burial ground of the Tapajó people and has led to a boom in agricultural commodities in protected areas, and cases of human rights violations against Indigenous peoples and traditional communities.
Protesters stained sacks of soy with red paint symbolizing Indigenous blood / Daleth Oliveira/Uma Gota No Oceano
Cargill, one of the world's largest grain traders, owns food brands that are popular among Brazilians, such as Liza, Pomarola and Elefante. The multinational company is one of the main stakeholders in the construction of Ferrogrão, a railroad facing strong opposition from Indigenous leaders in the Amazon.
Cargill told Brasil de Fato it "does not participate in the consortium formed to build Ferrogrão." However, the company was one of those responsible for hiring the consultancy group that prepared the initial study of the railroad in 2016. In a speech last year during an agribusiness event, Paulo Sousa, president of Cargill in Brazil, said the railroad is a priority project.
Along with Ferrogrão, Cargill is "in the dock" this Monday (4). In Santarém, organizations of affected populations are meeting in a people's court to hold a symbolic trial of the railroad, with the participation of Indigenous people, Quilombolas, small farmers, settlers and other residents of the harmed area.
The impacts of Ferrogrão
Ferrogrão is a huge railroad project, almost a thousand kilometers long. It aims to connect Sinop, in Mato Grosso state, to Miritituba, Pará state, crossing Itaituba (also in Pará state). Its cost is estimated at BRL 24 billion and a concession period of 69 years.
Corporations such as Amaggi, , Bunge, Cargill and Dreyfus are promoting the project, as well as soybean and corn producers in the Brazilian Midwest, who want to make exporting grains cheaper.
The train will cut through at least six Indigenous lands, where approximately 2,600 people live, as well as 17 conservation units. On the route of the deforested area there are also three isolated Indigenous peoples who have no with non-Indigenous peoples. The data is from a report by Infoamazônia and the Brazilian newspaper website Joio e o Trigo.
Ferrogrão is driven by the federal government and Brazil’s Supreme Court
In September 2023, Brazil’s Supreme Court (also known as STF) suspended, for six months, the analysis of the constitutionality of the railroad construction due to pending technical studies.
The issue will be decided again in March this year by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, in the context of the Direct Action for Unconstitutionality (Adin, in Portuguese) that led to the temporary suspension of the project. In 2023, Moraes authorized the resumption of Ferrogrão studies and allowed the creation of a Ministry of Transport Working Group to monitor the issue.
At the beginning of the year, the Minister of Transport, Renan Filho, said the federal government would make changes to the railroad project to enable the environmental licensing of the work.
