Suez Privatizes Territories to Profit
with Energy in Brazil
The energy sector of French corporation Suez, has applied a
strategy that consists in transforming territories into spaces to produce
commodities in Brazil. It did so by
means of participating in electricity generation projects leading to
environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, water privatization through
the building of dams. All this in violation of the rights of
the local and indigenous peoples, and applying a policy of repression and
criminalization of the social movements that oppose to it, such as the MAB
(Movement of Dam-Affected People).
The Working Group on Services of REBRIP (Brazilian
Network for the Integration of the Peoples), is filing an accusation before the
PPT based on the impacts of the construction of two hydroelectric dams: Estreito and Cana Brava. In Estreito, Suez caused the loss of
the quality of the water of the Tocantins river
after the construction of the dam. There was a reduction and extermination of
fish, turtles (tracajás) and small cetaceans,
families living by the river were displaced without any plans of resettlement,
there was a direct and indirect impact on indigenous lands of the Avá Canoeiro, Krahô,
Funil, Xerente, Apinayé, Krikati and Mãe Maria and Gavião communities.
Cana Brava is a key dam for the construction of
another 14 hydroelectric dams in the Araguaia-Tocantins
system, with a great impact on the ecosystem of Cerrado
and the Amazon. 986 families were displaced, and only 25% of them were
compensated unfairly. The vegetation in the whereabouts of the dam was not
eliminated, causing the pollution of the lake's water.
In Brazil, Suez Energy (ex Tractebel), was one of the transnational
corporations that benefited the most from the first privatization cycle in the
90s. In the aforementioned cases (Estreito and Cana Brava) the company was directly involved in the
election and post-election funding of political authorities of Goiás and Tocantins states. Authorization
and operation processes of those dams are therefore questioned over lack of
transparency and corruption. These hydroelectric dams strengthen the model of
predation and concentration of the territory since they supply the
electro-intensive industrial chain with cheap energy.
In its operations in Brazil, Suez Energy has violated
international conventions on cultural rights; water, sanitation and human
settlement commitments, the Brazilian Federal Constitution, the ICESCR
(International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), such as for
example the rigths to a standard of living, adequate
housing, the right to water. The Criteria, guidelines and recommendations of
the World Commission on Dams (2000) have also been overlooked.
The filing of the case before the PPT also aims to
raise awareness on the role of corporations that seek to control and manage our
natural resources and our territory, thus contributing with linking the local
struggles with continental strategies of resistance against transnational
corporations and framework agreements that favor
them.
Key issues: Privatization of
Public Services and violation of fundamental rights
Denouncing organizations:Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens
(MAB) y Red Brasilera por
la Integración de los
Pueblos (REBRIP).