The peasants are members of the Rural Landless Peasant Movement (MST) and the Movement of Peoples Affected by Dams (MAB).

Garibaldi’s central, which is being installed on the Canoas river in Abdon Batista and Cerro Negro municipalities, is managed by Rio Canoas Energia corporation, created by the group Triunfo Participacoes e Investimento, which is authorized to operate the central for 35 years.

According to information provided by MAB, the project provides the flooding of 1864 hectares of fertile land and it would affect Abdon Batista, Cerro Negro, Campo Belo do Sul, Vargem and São José do Cerrito municipalities. Nearly 1,000 families will be displaced from the area, and over 700 are not being considered as affected by Rio Canoas Energia.

MAB’s occupation in Cerro Negro aims to guarantee the respect of the rights of the families: the over 700 families that are not considered as being affected run the risk of neither being resettled nor compensated. A meeting is scheduled for next Thursday between representatives of the people affected by Garibaldi and the construction company.

Meanwhile, the MST peasants are hanging tough in the unproductive land of Cerro Negro, a land demanded for the agrarian reform. They denounce the slowness of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INCRA) to settle more than 1,000 families of the region, which are already registered for several years. The MST settlers want land to produce and live.

Members of the MAB and the MST had also occupied a plot of land where Garibaldi construction works in Abdon Batista were being carried out, so that their demands were answered. After almost a week of occupation legal representatives of Rio Canoas Energia committed to schedule a joint negotiation meeting that will take place on Thursday. For this reason, the activists lifted the camp and joined Cerro Negro waiting for the meeting.

Photo: MAB