The Brazilian Army Hires Accused of Practicing Illegal Mining to Drill Yanomami Land – 04/18/2023 – Science and Health

2023-04-18 14:24:00

The Army’s VI Engineering and Construction Battalion, in Roraima, hired the company of a person accused of practicing illegal mining on the Yanomami Indigenous Land to drill artesian wells within the territory.

Rodrigo Martins de Mello, known as Rodrigo Cataratas, was denounced by the Federal Public Ministry as suspected of leading an organization that was illegally exploiting the land in the area. He and his company, Cataratas Poços Artesianos, are accused in the Federal Court and deny the accusations.

This did not prevent the Army from hiring the company, without a bidding process, in March of this year to “drill an artesian well in Yanomami indigenous territory”, for R$ 185,000. The agreement was published in the Official Gazette of the Union, according to the Amazônia Real website.

According to the contract, the place where the works will be carried out is in the Surucucu region, where an Army border squad is located. The service includes drilling 120 meters deep and the completion period is until November of this year.

_{Translated by AZAHARA MARTIN ORTEGA}

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