WEBVTT

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[sil.]

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[music]

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[music]

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[music]

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The vast forest of the Amazon was first
plundered by Spaniards searching for El Dorado,

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a secret land of unbelievable riches.

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Since those first conquistadores,
gold has been pillage in the Amazon.

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[sil.]

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Deep in the Amazon Rain Forest, hundreds
of thousands of unemployed Brazilians

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are trying their hand at prospecting.
Brazilians call them

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in Portuguese, Garimpeiros.
During the last decade,

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the poor and adventurous from all over the country
flocked to manually operated mines like this one.

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Half a million spread across Amazonia,

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looking for riches in the forest.

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[sil.]

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Well, it is legal to mine here at (inaudible), the
Garimpeiros must stay on this side of the hill

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in the background, they are forbidden to mine
on the Carajás mountains on the other side.

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That territory is the property of a mining
company, owned by the Brazilian government.

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The company helicopter regularly
checks up on the Garimpeiros,

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then flies back into the
mysterious, heavily guarded

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government mining concession.

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Under this mist and forest
is the real El Dorado.

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[music]

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Carajás is the richest
mineral province on earth.

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Deposits of bauxite,

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Chrome, zinc, copper.

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The surface is often
covered with alluvial gold

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and the iron ore is the richest on
Earth, and could last 500 years.

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The Brazilian government wanted
the riches of this forest.

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The government plan

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to construct an entire industrial region, based
on the mineral wealth here in northern Brazil.

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They hoped exports from this
region alone, would pay off

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Brazil\'s massive international debt. Their company
was called the company of Vale do Rio Doce,

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and in 1985 it was constructing
its or processing plant

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and a company town at a cost of $3 billion.

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The project was partially financed by the
European Economic Community, the E.E.C.

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and the World Bank. The company\'s
president was confident,

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the plant would make money.

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Our profit is calculated
on the lowest prices.

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So we\'re not worried about a fall in price.
As we increase production,

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the profit will go up each time.

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It\'s a project that can\'t go into the red.
It\'s profitable from the start,

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that\'s its beauty.

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In February 1985, Brazil\'s
President inaugurated the railway

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that would transport the
company\'s minerals.

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The Carajás railway

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Confirms that technology

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and enterprise of our people.

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Within three years

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it will carry 35 million tons

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and will enrich our country

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with $700 million a year.

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Industries will develop, new
companies will be founded,

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along the railway,
contributing to the occupation

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of the vast spaces of Amazonia.

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[sil.]

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The wealth of Carajás began to flow

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to a song specially composed
for the inauguration.

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[music]

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For the next five years,

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the plant and the railroad will have a
profound effect on the forest, and the people.

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To help pay for Brazil\'s international
debt, most of the iron was transported

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the 600 miles to the coast, and then
on to markets in Europe and Japan.

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But at the Garimpeiros Sossego mine,

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the gold was running out. So the Garimpeiros
had other plans for some of the wealth

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in the government\'s Carajás concession.
Is there a lot of gold?

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Not much.

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When this gold is finished, where will
you go? To the northern Carajás range.

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Have you been before? Only a few days back.

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After holy week, two to three
thousand men will go in.

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Have you already taken gold from there?

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But will you? Yes, I\'ll be working there.

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What about the security police?
Forget that.

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[sil.]

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But raids into the Carajás Mountains are
dangerous, hundreds of Garimpeiros had been beaten

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and stripped of their gold. The
most famous Garimpeiro raider

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was the man in the white shirt,
Jova, he would secretly lead teams

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into the Carajás. Once with
only a shovel and pan,

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Jova and three other men had taken
$30,000 of gold in only 20 days.

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How much gold have you got there?
Two and a half ounces.

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Is that good? More or less.

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Is there more gold in the
company\'s concession? Obviously.

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Will you return there?
Shortly, possibly next month.

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Jova sets off into the mountains,

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trips with Garimpeiros are grueling and
risky. They are hunted by security patrols,

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and they look on themselves as
the Robin Hood\'s of the Amazon.

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Poor men who do not agree, that the gold of
the forest, is for the big company only.

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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The helicopter patrols watch for
streams muddy from Garimpeiro digging.

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[music]

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They check the areas around
the company\'s camps.

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And watch the horizon for
smoke from Garimpeiro fires.

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[sil.]

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Despite the danger, Jova often
seemed casual, almost reckless,

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considering hundreds of Garimpeiros
have been arrested by the company.

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All the camps have guards

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and Jova had to bypass them carefully, sometimes watching
what they were doing for a few hours before moving on.

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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[music]

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[sil.]

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Jova thinks this area close to the
copper mine at Salobo is a gold place

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to pan for gold, because gold dust is washed
downstream out of the same bedrock as the copper.

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[sil.]

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[sil.]

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Security check posts inspect all cars in Carajás
and only those with permits can travel.

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[sil.]

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The Garimpeiros work by firelight at night,

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because the helicopters
don\'t patrol in the dark.

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[sil.]

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They are now about 10 miles
from any post or road.

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[sil.]

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Jova, how does the first test look?

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More or less okay. So you\'ll try here?

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Yes. It\'s 90 % okay.

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Their main problem was speed, to extract
the gold before they are discovered.

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The company patrols are armed
with shotguns, and rifles.

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These guards had recently captured a
Garimpeiro group just like Jova\'s.

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[sil.]

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When did you discover them?

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Last week. We took out 10
Garimpeiros from here.

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They had extracted plenty of gold.

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When we find them,

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we destroyed their workings. We
destroyed their camp and food

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and hand them to the police,

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to be charged.

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Does the company take their gold?
The gold is confiscated.

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[sil.]

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A week after starting,

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Jova\'s team seemed cheerful, almost elated.

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[sil.]

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Garimpeiros basically work with basically
the same process as the company,

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washing minerals out of the soil.
But this small scale system

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is mainly for the black market.
The companies is highly financed

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and licensed by the government.

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Are you getting more gold from
outside the company\'s concession?

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Of course, just look. Outside we
work a month to get half this.

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[sil.]

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Do all the concession will be opened up?
That\'s why I\'ve been invading for four years,

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not just me, but many other prospectors.

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The next week, the company\'s security team
discovered Jova and his men and took all their gold.

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[sil.]

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But deep inside these
mountains, there was a place

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the security guards could not control.
In 1980

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the Garimpeiros made a fabulous strike
inside the Carajás at Serra Pelada.

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As word spread, 80,000
miners invaded this place,

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sheer force of numbers, it literally
took it away from the company.

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This is probably the world\'s richest
gold mine ever worked by hand.

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[sil.]

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It formed a loosely knit
cooperative to set minimum rules.

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[sil.]

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Antonio here was said to have already made
several million dollars in Serra Pelada.

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[sil.]

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If the gravel rich? More or less.
How much gold you expect?

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65 pounds. Sixty five?

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That\'s nearly half a million dollars.
Is there a lot gold here?

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We hope so.

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We believe this claim has a lot of gold. We\'re
working day and night to clear the vein.

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Once we\'re down to it, we\'ve got a fortune.

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For weeks they clear worthless
rubble, in an established routine,

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each taking his turn digging
and carrying away his sack.

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When they get to the seam, a
lucky sack can occasionally give

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over 20 pounds of gold,
only a few get rich,

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but everyone lives on hope. In good years,

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the Garimpeiros took $200 million out of the
crater, nearly as much as the mining company.

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It was the poor man\'s alternative
to the multinational corporation.

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[sil.]

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They bring their sacks here,
the gold is separated.

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The mercury that is a byproduct of
this process is extremely poisonous.

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One report estimates as much
as 1800 tons of mercury

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were dumped in Amazonians
rivers during the 1980s.

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[sil.]

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The gold in this batch of pans is
worth nearly a million dollars.

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[sil.]

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How many pounds have already been
burnt clean? 90 to 100 pounds.

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How many more to go?

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70 pounds. Is there still a
lot of gold in the mine?

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Plenty. what\'s the company\'s
attitude to that?

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The Vale do Rio Doce company

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it\'s a multinational, always trying
to make trouble for the Garimpeiro.

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Serra Pelada was discovered by Garimpeiros.
But since the company found out,

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it\'s been struggling to get it from us.

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But the Garimpeiros won\'t give it up.
In defense of Serra Pelada,

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Garimpeiros will shed
their last drop of blood

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and smash the Carajás mine and railway.
At the nearby copper mine of Salobo,

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we asked the manager whether the
company wanted Serra Pelada back?

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[sil.]

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That\'s a difficult question for me,

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the decision for the board of directors.

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What I can say is that Serra Pelada
makes our hair stand on end.

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We don\'t want anything to do with it.

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Night and day, the Garimpeiros
and the corporation

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compete for the riches of Carajás.

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[sil.]

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[music]

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By January 1986,

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the government\'s huge Carajás
plant had become operational.

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The iron mine began to move
towards full production.

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Of all the ways a rain forest can be used, extracting
minerals should be one of the least harmful.

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[sil.]

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But this plant can process
90,000 tons of ore a day,

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a massive production transforms
the entire landscape.

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[sil.]

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The lives of the Garimpeiros
were also being transformed.

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At the beginning of 1986, Jova
was in the town of Curionópolis,

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still prospecting but for a
change, in his own backyard.

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[sil.]

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What are you doing here inside the town?
Just making ends meet.

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Will you demolish that house?
If there\'s gold beneath,

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we\'ll demolish it. Jova
had bought this house,

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for the gold beneath and it was
only two streets from his own home.

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Where did you get the
gold to buy this house?

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From North Carajás. How long
have you been in this house?

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A little over two years.

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Our problem here is the
girls, they can\'t go out.

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It\'s too violent.

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If I make a fortune, we\'ll move.

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You\'ll become a rancher? More or less.

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But nearby at Serra Pelada,
there were already signs of

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the death and disaster to come. As the
mine went deeper, so the risks of

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flood and rock fall increased.

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[sil.]

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Water seeping through the face loosens the earth and
dozens of miners were being killed by falling rocks.

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:53.000
[sil.]

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Here they clear the loose rocks,
before starting work below.

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[sil.]

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Whatever the dangers, when they\'re
down to the gold bearing gravel,

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a lucky sack can be worth thousands of
dollars. So there\'s tremendous pressure

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to stay just a minute longer.

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[sil.]

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The police desperately tried to move the miners,
but they were just too frantic to hear.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
[sil.]

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A policemen in the crowd fired
his revolver in the air.

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And the policeman to the left,

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fired a warning shot. And in
the confusion it went too low.

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[sil.]

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It was this pointless tragic death that
temporarily closed the mine in May 1986.

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Sierra Pelada is probably

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the largest hole ever dug by hand.
The Garimpeiros hadn\'t made

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the capital investment in heavy
equipment to make the mines safer.

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But now, if they wanted to work the mine again, they
had to begin the long process of bulldozing back

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the craters walls and shoring up the mine.

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A big company would have done this from the
beginning, but basic investment is rare

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among Garimpeiros. When they find gold,
most retire or squander their money.

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The Garimpeiros have gone
into debt to fix the mine.

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Our debt today is 870 million.

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The bank deadline was today.
So I phoned Berlin

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asking them not to bankrupt us.

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It was now costing more money to
get less gold at Serra Pelada.

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Just as the surrounding
deposits of surface gold

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were also being exhausted
by prospectors like Jova.

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[sil.]

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The situation for me and all
Garimpeiros is not good.

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Production is dropping here.

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And in all the surface sites around,

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some of my friends have already changed
profession. The world of gold has been taken over

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by the big companies like Vale do Rio Doce.

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At Carajás, the company
completed the new town

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for its staff and its new president
predicted massive development.

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Carajás is an important nucleus

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for the formation of a new
economic frontier in Brazil

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and a new center for industry,

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
particularly for iron foundries. In 1987,

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
Carajás was doubled its exports
from 12 to 2 million tons

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
from $200 to $400 million.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
[sil.]

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:33.000
[music]

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
And as traffic increased,

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
so the forest vanished.

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
Land close to the line rose in value, and was
cleared, and even in the middle of the jungle,

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
factories began to appear. They were
subsidiaries of pig iron companies

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
in southern Brazil, persuaded by a substantial
tax incentives to invest in Amazonia.

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
As part of their plan to create
a great industrial region,

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
in the corridor along the railway,
the government licensed 22 factories

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
to convert iron ore into pig iron.

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
The first three factories
began to go up in 1987.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
[sil.]

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
The factories were built around old
fashioned blast furnaces burning charcoal,

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
the modern harnesses burning coke from
coal would have been more efficient.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
[sil.]

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
But these factories were intended to compete
on the export market by using cheap fuel,

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
charcoal made from the free
wood of the Amazonian forest.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
To produce 30 tons of charcoal,

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
roughly two and a half acres of forest
must be burned. This factory alone

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
will consume 5,000 acres
of jungle every year.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
The Brazilian government had borrowed
$300 million from the World Bank.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:28.000
[sil.]

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
It was used to pay for the
railway and the Carajás project.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
But the bank lent the money on the
condition that the project was carried out

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
with due regard to environmental factors.
Questions were raised

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
about whether converting virgin forest into
charcoal, complied with the bank\'s conditions?

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:58.000
[sil.]

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
The company encountered that it had a program to
replant trees destroyed by the mining process.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
All the trees were specially bred

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
in the company\'s nursery but the
company was only replanting

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
inside the mining concession, washing their
hands of the destruction caused by the railway

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
and factories they were encouraging
outside of their jurisdiction.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
In Carajás, we faithfully observe

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
the environmental clause, the
mine, their individual park

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
with 900,000 acres. We protect it all

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
but as it is a new developing region,
other industries will be set up.

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
But we are not responsible for
that, just for the mine project.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
[sil.]

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
But the Loan Agreement with the
World Bank clearly states that

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
the project area is not just the mines, but the
area included in a radius of about 75 miles

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
from the iron mining site and railway.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
Environmentalist charge the deforestation for
charcoal is a breach of the World Bank agreement,

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
even if the government concession
couldn\'t control the smaller operators

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
who were cutting the forest piecemeal for charcoal,
because the charcoal ovens were a direct result of

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
the construction of the
iron mine and railway.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:38.000
[sil.]

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
The company\'s own superintendent
of the environment

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
wrote this memo criticizing their role in the
charcoal business. He said since the company owned

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
the monopoly of the railway and mine, it would be
hard to deny that it was the first responsible

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
for the devastation of the equatorial forest.
So we asked the president of the company

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
whether he would consider using
his monopoly to stop the cutting.

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
We intend to do the opposite.

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
We\'ll offer private entrepreneurs
who wish to establish themselves,

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
the research necessary to
reforest degraded areas.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
We don\'t doubt Eucalyptus and
topical pines will be adequate.

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:33.000
[sil.]

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
But the Brazilian government

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
has financed experimental plantations for
decades, and not one large scale planted forest

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
has succeeded in Amazonia, mainly
because of tropical pest and disease.

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
At the State of Paris faculty of agrarian
science, we asked the scientist in charge

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
of their experiments, whether any Amazonian
plantations could be called successful.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
No, we can\'t talk of successes.
We have done many experiments,

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
but most results have been very poor.
So they don\'t know

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
if it\'s possible to plant forest for
charcoal? They have no alternative.

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
They have to find a way to do it.
But besides the problems of finding

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
a viable species, there\'s
the very serious problem of

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
how to control forest fire. How much
forest will the Cosipa factory consume?

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
Well, certainly 120,000 acres.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
And the 22 factories approved so far?
One and a half million.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
That worries local officials
like the mayor of Marabá.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
Amazonia today is the lungs of the world,

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
setting up vast furnaces,

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
it would bring about what we
all fear, transform Amazonia

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
into a great desert.

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
One of these scoops consumes the
vegetation from an acre of jungle,

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
but because in a rainforest most of
the nutrients are in the vegetation,

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
stripping the land, robs the
entire acre of its nutrients.

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
Fifty years of pig iron export would leave the
charcoal areas almost literally a desert.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:33.000
[sil.]

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
So we asked the head of southern Brazil\'s
second largest pig iron consortium,

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
whether there were any alternatives.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
Of course, they could make pig iron
there with Coke instead of charcoal.

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
What\'s the advantage?

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
Blast furnaces using coke are much larger

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
and so more productive

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
with lower overhead. There\'s no need
to get involved in industrial forests.

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
No need to buy land

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
or to plant trees and it would
preserve Amazon Forest.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
But in 1987,

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
the government policy was
exploitation, not preservation.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
[sil.]

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
That same year,

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
Serra Pelada struggled on. For every
few yards the Garimpeiros went down.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
They had to carve away great masses of earth
from the sides. And the deeper they went,

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
the more it was clear that the Garimpeiros
system would never keep up with a big company.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:37:03.000
[sil.]

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
To get the Garimpeiros to clear the
sides, they were offered free food.

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
And times were so tough,
thousands accepted the offer.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
[sil.]

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
These free meals became a symbol
of the Garimpeiros decline.

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
This would be the end
of the poor man\'s dream

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
that gold could provide
an escape from poverty.

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:43.000
[music]

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
Nearly a billion dollars came out of Serra
Pelada, but it went away with the lucky ones.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
Those that remained were the unsuccessful
and increasingly the hopeless.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
The Garimpeiros wanted the government
to help them pay for digging the mine.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
They had frequently been turned down.

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
Finally they made a last desperate attempt to force
the government to help them. In December 1987,

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
they seized the huge (inaudible)
bridge, halting both passenger traffic

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
and the company\'s iron ore trains.
Two days later,

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
the Governor of Pará ordered his
state police to clear the bridge,

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
and they opened fire killing
at least nine Garimpeiros.

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
[sil.]

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
The brutal killing broke the last of Serra
Pelada\'s power. Thousands of Garimpeiros

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
then decided to leave.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
Jova hired a van for the move, and planned
a prospect in the Western Amazon.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
Jova\'s wife.

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
Dona Alzira, are you happy to leave? I am.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
Will things be better there? Yes.
We\'ve never succeeded here.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
We\'ve suffered much

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
and we\'ve never won out of this situation.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
[sil.]

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
We have memories, we\'ll never forget.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
Engraved in our hearts.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
I\'ve been very happy here.

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
But conditions for gold
mining have been finished

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
by the companies. I know where the gold is.

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
If only they would allow
24 hours to extract it.

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
So I\'ve lost.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:08.000
[sil.]

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
The Garimpeiro town nearest Serra
Pelada was drained of its population.

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
And as the Garimpeiros faded away, so the
Carajás story passed from its pioneer

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
to industrial phase.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
[sil.]

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
In March 1988, the first
Carajás blast furnace

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
was inaugurated by the
outspoken Governor of Para.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
We completely agree with the
preservation of the forest,

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
with the rational use of the forest.
No one would intimidate my government.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
So that our forests remain virgin

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
and that it shouldn\'t be violated.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
It\'s easy for people already
developed, like in São Paulo

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
to support colleges.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
There they have already destroyed everything,
created slums where you can\'t even breathe

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
and now they are developed.

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
They give us lessons in Amazonia.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
Look, don\'t touch this forest,
(inaudible) you mustn\'t touch it.

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
They even get groups in other planets.

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
For the rest of the world seems
another planet to us in Marabá.

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
You send telegrams asking the
governor not to touch the forest.

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
Now this governor will touch the
forest but with rationality,

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
with lucidity, with competence.

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
When God created the world, he said,

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
\"Of everything you can eat, but
what was his little exception?

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
The apple.\" Yes, the apple

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
was his only exception.
And Adam, our forefather,

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
didn\'t even obey that. He ate the apple

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
and that\'s why we\'re suffering to this day.

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
[music]

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
And so the development marched on.

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:08.000
[music]

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
Like the railway, the huge sea
terminal was partly financed by

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
the World Bank and EEC. To pay
for Brazil\'s international debt,

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
most of the iron is for
export, a third to Europe,

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
where another battle was about to begin.

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:38.000
[music]

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
In September 1988,

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
50,000 people demonstrated in Berlin,
during the World Bank Annual Conference.

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
Protests about the bank\'s loans
focused on Amazonia and Carajás,

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
and a 100 citizens organizations
demanded environmental reform,

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
linked to forgiveness of third world debt
and took their demands to the conference.

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
[sil.]

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
Representatives from Brazil,
Chile, and the United States,

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
handed them into the Finance
Minister of Brazil.

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:28.000
[sil.]

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
The US Senate was the
first legislative body

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
to take action. At the Appropriations Committee,
hearings dealt with the Carajás project

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
under the Chairmanship of
Hawaii\'s Senator, Daniel Inouye.

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
The draft constitution was recently adopted in
Brazil. The Carajás iron mine is leading to

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
devastating consequences for the region.
Twenty two iron ore smelters now,

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
consequences of the mine itself, have
been approved in the Amazonian region

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
to export pig iron and alloys. In order
to compete in the international market,

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
these smelters must use a cheap fuel and what
they\'re gonna use is the tropical rain forest

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
converted into charcoal. Mr. President,
this summary is the Foreign Operations Bill

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
reported by the committee.
It is a good bill,

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
one which I believe, it\'s all for
requirements on the nations Foreign Policy.

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
Mr. Marcus, Mr. Benson, Mr. Biden…

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
The Appropriations Bill of 1988

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
contained the following report clause
on Carajás. If within four months,

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
substantial progress has not been demonstrated,
the US Executive Director to the World Bank

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
is directed to seek delay, and if
necessary, oppose future loans to Brazil.

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:58.000
[music]

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
In 1989, the smog along the
railway was worst than ever.

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
[music]

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
Tens of thousands of acres of forest
have been burned for charcoal.

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
And there were now two blast furnaces
in Marabá, Simara and Cosipar.

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
[music]

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
Also many saw mills making charcoal

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
out of their reject wood.

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
[music]

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
But in 1989, officials from
Brazil\'s Environmental Agency

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
began for the first time to find
illegal charcoal production.

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:58.000
[sil.]

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:05.000
These logs are obviously not from a
plantation, but from a Virgin Forest.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
Afterwards, massive fines were levied
on the small sawmill operators,

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
as well as the blast furnaces that purchase
their wood by the regional head of

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
the environmental agency, IBAMA.

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
They were storing charcoal illegally,
against IBAMA\'s forest regulations.

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
They will not have permission to
store this quantity of charcoal.

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
Simara was fined over a
half million dollars

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
and the other, Cosipar was fined

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
$25,000 for the illegal transport of coal.

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
In July 1990, Cosipar was
still using charcoal

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
to make pig iron.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
[sil.]

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
But the Simara blast furnace which by then had been fined
half a million dollars, was closed down and up for sale.

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:33.000
[sil.]

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
And all the blast furnaces that were being
built along the railway had stop construction.

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
There was still massive timber cutting,
but now all trucks had to stop

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
at the environmental agencies check posts.

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
Wood could still be cut
and transported, but now

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
the operator needed a license.

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
For environmentalists in Brazil,
these were hopeful signs.

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
In Europe, additional
pressure was being added.

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
The European Parliament considered a
motion to ban all Brazilian pig iron

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
made with charcoal. It was proposed
by the Dutch member (inaudible).

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
The Environment Committee voted in favor

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
and the motion was then sent for
a vote in the full parliament.

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
And that is got for carried. Mr.
(inaudible), thank you very much indeed.

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
[music]

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
In 1990, Brazil\'s newly elected President
Fernando Collor visited Carajás.

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
[music]

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:58.000
[sil.]

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
He gave conditional support to planting
industrial forests in already deforested areas

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
and removed all the tax incentives that
encouraged industry to move to Amazonia.

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
All the blast furnaces were
affected by this move.

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
Now Serra Pelada has been abandoned.

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:28.000
[sil.]

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
And the town near the
mine is largely deserted,

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
except for those few who
still believe in its future.

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
[non-English narration]

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
This is all ours he says.

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
The capital of Carijós.

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
Serra Pelada, \"The Lord of Gold.\"

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:13.000
[music]

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
The Decade of Destruction by Adrian Cowell

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:45.000
is published by Henry Hilton company and is
available in libraries and book stores nationwide.