Tens of delegates from the Movement of Dam Affected People (MAB) are participating in these activities. They estimate that the two power plants will force the displacement of over five thousand people, and will flood 500 square kilometers of land.

In the framework of this meeting, there will be a mobilization this afternoon outside Santo Antonio works, which are being conducted by Santo Antonio Energia Consortium, made up by Odebrecht, Andrade Gutierrez, Siemens, Furnas and Cemig companies, among others.

While this consortium is advertising the alleged benefits which the project will bring to the Amazon region, the inhabitants of the area are denouncing the other side of this million-dollar investment.

According to news agency Agencia Brasil, the people affected by the hydroelectric dam are denouncing the violence exerted by the private promoters of the project, including setting houses on fire to force the people who rejected the resettlement to move.

MAB leaders stated that the people affected accepted to be resettled in precarious conditions for “fear of losing everything”. Many families who lived by the Madeira River didn´t have ownership titles because “they have always lived in that place”, and this was used by the investors in order not to pay compensations.

The MAB is denouncing that the people affected by the project are having difficulties in their new lands, since they are on stones and it is impossible to grow anything there, and surprisingly, the electricity rates are too high.

Some members of the Brazilian movement met last week with governmental authorities, particularly with members of the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform.

They stated that there are over one million people affected in the country by the building of hydroelectric dams, according to Radioagencia Noticias do Planalto.

“Unfortunately, the Brazilian government has a commitment to the big companies. These dams only aim at profiting. They make profits building the dams, and then selling energy”, said Marco Antonio Trierveile, MAB´s national coordinator.