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hatrack

(59,439 posts)
Thu May 28, 2020, 08:26 PM May 2020

Illegal Loggers Burn Bridge, Beat Brazilian Environmental Inspector; Not A Word From Bolsonaro

A large group of angry loggers set fire to a bridge in Pará state in the Brazilian Amazon in April, forcing vehicles belonging to IBAMA, the country’s environmental agency, to halt, preventing its mission to protect an indigenous reserve from ongoing illegal deforestation.

The unruly mob surrounded the IBAMA staff, threatening them. Givanildo Lima, the official in charge of the operation, tried to reason with the gang but, in the midst of mayhem, someone hit him on the head with a bottle of cachaça, Brazilian white rum, knocking him to the ground. He required hospital treatment. Mongabay contacted Lima, but he said he could not talk to the press due to a ban imposed by the Ministry of the Environment.

Various videos of the incident, probably shot by the loggers, were posted on the internet. Mongabay has taken episodes from these videos, some of them long and rambling, and produced a more concise version.



The clash illustrates the degree to which illegal loggers and land grabbers, who openly admit they feel empowered by President Jair Bolsonaro’s inflammatory rhetoric, believe they are free to violently advance their interests. Mongabay contacted IBAMA’s Communication Department, the only body authorized to speak to reporters, for comment. It replied saying that it had forwarded Mongabay’s request to the Ministry of Environment, the body charged by the Bolsonaro government for dealing with all press queries relating to the environment. When this article went to press, the ministry had not replied. No one has been taken into custody but the federal police have said they will investigate the incident.

EDIT

https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/loggers-attack-brazilian-environmental-official-in-amazon-bolsonaro-silent/
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