Indigenous protest in the Amazon forces Brazil’s Lula to revoke waterway decree

The Amazon rainforest is seen in Brazil, Aug. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

SAO PAULO — The Brazilian government said Monday it would revoke a decree signed by leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that allowed private concessions for waterways, following 33 days of protests by thousands of Indigenous people at a Cargill facility in Santarem in northern Brazil.

The decree authorized the government to assess the concession of waterways to private operators, including the responsibility for maintenance, dredging and vessel‑traffic management.

The decision marks a major victory for the Indigenous movement, which argued that dredging projects threaten the Tapajos River, Indigenous territories and the ecological balance of the world’s largest rainforest.

The Amazon plays a critical role in regulating the climate far beyond South America. Scientists warn that continued forest loss could accelerate global warming and disrupt agriculture as far away as the U.S. Midwest and parts of Europe.

“Revoking the decree is more than a political decision. It confirms that the struggle of Indigenous peoples and the communities that resisted was never in vain,” the Tapajos and Arapiuns Indigenous Council, which represents 14 peoples and led the protest in Para state, said in a statement.

“What won today was life. The river won, the forest won, the memory of our ancestors won.”

Weeks of protests

In recent weeks, the Tapajos protests drew national attention and inspired solidarity demonstrations across the rainforest and in Sao Paulo, the country’s largest city, thousands of miles from Santarem.

They also sparked outrage on social media among the left-wing and supporters of Lula, who is seeking reelection later this year. Some pointed to what they saw as contradictions in the president’s agenda: his government champions large infrastructure projects that could affect the forest while pledging to be a climate leader.

A collage on Instagram contrasted Lula’s 2023 inauguration photo with legendary Indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire, labelled “symbolic victory,” against an image of Indigenous protesters at the Cargill site, called a “concrete defeat.”

Plans to dredge the Tapajos River are tied to other large Amazon infrastructure projects, including a proposed railway driven by demand from the agricultural commodities sector — especially soy and corn — along an export corridor.

Such projects would increase pressure on Indigenous territories and protected areas, fueling deforestation, land grabbing and other long‑standing impacts in the region, said Renata Utsunomiya, a policy analyst with the Infrastructure and Socioenvironmental Justice group.

Brazil is the world’s largest soybean producer, accounting for about 40 per cent of global output. The country produced 171.5 million metric tons in the 2024–25 season, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Ports in northern Brazil are strategic for Brazilian commodity exports. Last year, cargo movement in the region rose 10.33 per cent to 163.3 million metric tons, according to official data. Last week, Ports and Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho said the growth shows the North has become “a new frontier of efficiency.”

Protests reach a stand off

On Wednesday, a judge ordered the federal government to clear the demonstration area. Indigenous protesters said they would not leave and later entered Cargill’s port office.

The court order put the Lula administration in a bind: deploy police forces to remove protesters or sit down with them to negotiate.

The decision also carried other political costs for Lula, potentially putting him at odds with agribusiness, one of Brazil’s most powerful economic sectors that is not traditionally aligned with him.

Lawmaker Pedro Lupion of the right-wing Republicanos Party, who is president of the powerful Parliamentary Agricultural Front, said Sunday that the protest at Cargill’s terminal was illegal.

“Brazil’s legal framework guarantees the right to demonstrate, but it does not authorize the invasion of property or the forced interruption of a company’s operations,” he said.

Cargill said Saturday that its operations at the site were completely halted.

Guilherme Boulos, the Presidency’s General Secretary, said Monday that Lula — currently on an official trip to Asia — decided to revoke the decree after hearing Indigenous concerns.

“This is a government willing to reverse its own decision when it understands and recognizes their position,” Boulos said. “This is not a government that runs over the forest or over Indigenous peoples.”

Alessandra Korap, an Indigenous leader of the Munduruku people who was protesting at Cargill, celebrated the revoking and said they would keep fighting for the river.

“They may try to criminalize us but we know what the river means to us. We know what the forest means to our people,” she said.

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Gabriela Sá Pessoa, The Associated Press