Belo Monte – The dialogue that never happened

Open Letter to the National and International Public
by Bishop Erwin Kräutler (RLA 2010)

“Once more I want to express myself publicly against the Federal Government’s project to build the Belo Monte Hydroelectric which will have irreversible consequences especially for Altamira Anapu, Brazil Novo, Porto de Moz, Senador Jose Porfirio, and Vitória do Xingu, all municipalities of the state of Pará, as well as for the indigenous peoples of the region. (…)

In recent years we have made many efforts to establish a channel of dialogue with the Brazilian Government about this project. Unfortunately, we found that the desired dialogue has been frustrated from the very beginning. (…)

We alert the national and international society that Belo Monte is based in the illegality and in the denial of dialogue with the affected people, risking to be built under the rule of armed forces, as has been happening with the Transposition of the San Francisco river in the northeast of Brazil…”

Read the full statement.