The Brazilian government reversed plans to privatize key waterways in the Amazon, marking a victory for protesters who occupied a Cargill Inc. grain shipping terminal in the region.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has decided to revoke his own decree, the minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Guilherme Boulos, said at a press conference on Monday.
The decision comes after local indigenous groups occupied a Cargill terminal in the Port of Santarém overnight Friday in Pará state, extending a standoff that’s exposed cracks in agribusiness efforts to boost crop shipments along area rivers.
“This is a victory of the indigenous movement, of the Tapajos River, of the Amazon,” said Caetano Scannavino, an environmentalist based in Santarém. “The indigenous movement is the new progressive movement, and we should follow its lead. Beyond left and right, what they defend is living well instead of the need for more GDP growth.”
Escalating tensions in the region underscore challenges for global agriculture traders who have strengthened their presence in the Amazon by building a series of port terminals over the last decade. Cargill’s Santarém unit is part of a network of Amazon ports responsible for shipping more than 40% of Brazil’s corn and soybeans. The country is currently in the height of the soybean harvesting season, and activity at the terminals in the region is key to keep exports flowing this time of year.
Members of 14 indigenous tribes pushed back against the decree, which aimed to privatize the management of three rivers totaling about 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) of waterways across the Amazon. The groups also rejected the launch of a public bidding for dredging the Tapajós River. That bidding was suspended, Brazil’s Ministry of Ports said in a statement Sunday.
Cargill didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the decree about-face. Over the weekend, the company had said in a statement that it hoped for a solution that would allow “the safe resumption of operations and the continued transport of food to where it is needed.”
Protesters blocked roads and land access to Cargill’s terminal earlier in the month, halting trucks from unloading soybeans. Demonstrators also briefly shut down the entrance to Santarém airport, one of the region’s main transport hubs.
Organizations representing soybean traders and shipping companies earlier on Monday asked for immediate actions to restore possession of the terminal. In a statement, groups including traders’ representative Abiove said the fact that protesters acted against a private company “is not only counterproductive, but also undermines the legitimate democratic space.”
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