Catholic Bishop Erwin Krautler, came to the Brazilian Amazon in 1965 and has lived in the region since. He is a renowned priest and in many ways a walking contradiction. A teacher who didn’t come to the Amazon to teach. Who returned to teaching later in life, but not to teach the once-ascribed “uncivilized” indigenous tribes, but to teach the non-indigenous Brazilians about indigenous tribes to fight the long-held assumptions of their uncivilized ways.
Living in Belem, the northern historic port-city, Krautler described the encounter that defined his life’s work. He asked Brazilians about the Amazonian Kayapo tribe and recoiled as he describes his first exposure to Brazilian perceptions of indigenous tribes “Do not worry about these savages and traitors, in 20 years we will not have one indian left, god willing.” This was the moment that he knew he would have to help these tribes survive.
We sat down with Krautler in February 2012 to talk about what he describes as one of the biggest threats to the Amazon’s indigenous tribes, the Belo Monte dam. He gives accounts to how the government has assured him that they will not pursue the dam and then changed their minds and have fluttered back and forth for almost 30 years, from the time Brazil was still governed by the military dictatorship, to its current democratic governments.
The best example of these ever-changing shifts is a conversation he described with former Brazilian President Inacio Lula De Silva. A photo shows the stout and pudgy former president sitting next to a younger, more pale and gaunt Krautler. He recounted the meeting and how Lula and his Peaples Workers Party wouldn’t build the Belo Monte dam on indigenous lands, a promise the former president reneged on before leaving office. Ironically, for the current Brazilian president, and De Silva’s former chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff has made the Belo Monte Dam a big part of its pro-growth agenda.
We interviewed Mr. Krautler as part of an International Reporting Program short documentary we were working on about economic pressures in Brazil and how they are particularly relevant to indigenous tribes. His advocacy work on behalf on indigenous tribes and against powerful industries and moneyed interests have left him with two distinct consequences; he is treated like a regional rockstar, well below the threshold of the Mick Jagers, but just above an up-and-coming band and the second consequence, the constant presence of security guards that stand by his doors, patrol his home and the church.
We met with Mr. Krautler at his church in Altamira, Brazil, the city closest to the Belo Monte dam. For the last ten years the stakes have increased dramatically. Articles bringing the dam international audiences ebb and flow as the impacted indigenous tribes use high-profile demonstrations and protests which reach news outlets. Just miles from our interview with Mr. Krautler, Norte Energia, the company responsible for building the dam project, is building an underwater mountain, known in hydroelectric terms as a coffer dam, to divert the river and build their reservoir. The dam would also displace 20 thousand Altamira residents because the flooding that will result, but the displaced will be compensated by the company. As the project reaches it’s completion date in 2014 and operation date in 2015, residents of Altamira, the Kayapo tribe and Federal Municipal Prosecutors and indigenous rights activists are using every method to stop the project.
Q: Why do they need protection?
A: The fundamental issue for the indigenous people is always land. The fight for land goes on until today. They have their ancestral lands, inherited from their ancestors. The colonization advanced into the jungle and found these people and wanted to take over their land, like it happened in the US. Maybe not as violent. But today, we can call it violent. So, we began to fight in the name of the indigenous land in the sense that the indians will only survive if they have the right to their ancestral lands. The indian will not survive if he is not in his land.
Q: Do people kill for land?
A: This is an area with many conflicts, with death and many deaths that are many times not registered. We have cemeteries with crosses and no name on top of them. If we take into account the past massacres, it would have a red color. We have many villages that have disappeared and this is true and historically proven. Today, it is more in terms of not killing the indian but yanking him from his land.** There are all sorts of types of deaths. There is the killing type but you also have the death for money. The pressure from leaderships to make them give up their land, such is the case of Belo Monte. This is a knife in the heart of a culture because money kills the relationship and the form of community organization for the indians.
Q: How will Belo Monte affect the Kayapo Indians?
A: The government defends the thesis that the indigenous people will not be affected. It is a lie. For the government, in the context of a dam, they claim that a village will only be affected if it is flooded. This is the mistake. The indians will not have their village flooded but instead will have their water cut off. So, imagine, they survive in the river basin and survive from fishing and community agriculture. Without water they have no way to survive.[Hassan Arshad, 12-05-22 2:14 PM] Second, how can you say that the indians will not be affected if 5 km from them you have a construction site that hosts 20,000 people. I want to know what will be left from this village. So, for me this is a form of death. A death planned in its minimum details.
Q: How are the displaced people compensated?
A: They say they will evaluate the price of the house and then will give them the money for it. But, then, are we sure the people will be able to survive with that money? The second thing is that they say they will find them a house. But a house does not mean only a shelter. Someone who lived in the river basin with kids jumping in the river with cacau, pigs, chicken and cows is all of a sudden put in a cage because the houses they offer have no dignity.
Q: You have fought against Belo Monte for more than 30 years and the project is still going, why?
A: It is hard to answer why. We did all we could. We had big protests here. We had campaigns, meetings but the government closes itself to dialogue. I met with Lula twice and he promised me the second time around that he was not going to allow the project to be shoved down someone’s throat. That balbina, close to manaus would not repeat itself. He said brazil is in debt with many victims of coffer dams. He also said he would only green light the Belo Monte if it proved to be an advantage to everyone. Out of the 4 items he promised, none of the promises were met… So, there is no conversation, there is no dialogue. The project will happen regardless.
Q: The company says they have modified its original plans so that they only build one dam in the region and not the five additional dams the Altamira Hydroelectric Complex originally included. Is this not a fair compromise?
A: I am tired of hearing this. This is always what they say. They are no longer creative. They should make up another lie. We are tired of these lies. First, they simply say that there is going to be only one coffer dam because Lula made a decree. This is a lie. How can you make a decree out of this. The next person will remove this decree. It is not in the constitution. If I am your successor, I can revoke that decree and end of story. Any credible scientist will tell you that they will build more than one coffer dam, they will build four or five because it is not worth investing more than 30 billion reais into such a project and have it not function properly later on.
Q: Why do you need body guards?
A: I have been threatened many times. It is also a long story. First, there are four reasons. The first reason is linked to Dorothy. Dorothy Stang was murdered and she was a religious person who worked with me since 1982. She was murdered close to here and as a Bishop I demanded a detailed investigation of her murder. Of course I knew why she was murdered and threatened. So, these people that were always creating this hostile environment against the sister and what she defended and what we defended saw in me a live archive. The second reason is linked to the indigenous cause because I have been defending their cause for many years and those who support indians are against the interest of people who want to become rich in a short amount of time. The third reason is linked to Belo Monte. I have explained that since the beginning I was against the project for the reasons I have already mentioned. It is not about rejecting electricity, it is about rejecting a project that will have irreversible consequences that will show that I am right in the future.
Q: After 30 years of fighting, it seems people are tired of fighting. Is there a sense of resignation among people?
A: …People are tired. We have had 5,000 people in the streets and today it is impossible to do that again. There is a certain apathy and lethargic vibe that is taking over many people. I think that the people of Altamira will only wake up when they are yanked out. For now, they remain stagnant between the cross and the knife without knowing what will happen. But, it is very painful and dangerous to give up. But, I see a tendency of people giving into taking whatever they can since they do not have the means to face this golias, so they will take what they can in order not to leave with empty hands.
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