Link to the statement in Portuguese and English
International Rivers strongly condemns the attacks against members of the Indigenous Enawenê-Nawê people last week. This aggression was carried out by security employees of Hydria Energia, which controls a series of hydropower dams on Brazil’s Juruena River in the state of Mato Grosso. These dams have been directly impacting fish stocks for years and compromising the food security of Indigenous Peoples in the region.
This attack took place during a peaceful protest calling for compensation for the socio-environmental impacts experienced by communities and revision of the previous agreement with the company which was not complied with and no longer serves the existing Indigenous population. The combined impacts of the dams and growing agribusiness interests has left the local population increasingly isolated and deprived of access to the natural resources that sustain their livelihoods and cultures.
The authorities must guarantee the right of free expression of Brazilian civil society, in particular the rights of Indigenous Peoples who are often discriminated against and among the most vulnerable. Authorities should open an inquiry into these aggressions suffered by the Enawenê Nawê people so that the law is applied and the culprits duly punished.
In this context, International Rivers stands in solidarity with the Enawene-Nawe population, who have inhabited this region long before the construction of hydropower dams and the occupation by agribusiness interests.