Action Alert: Denounce the Murder of Fishermen/Activists in Rio

AHOMAR represents artisan fisherfolk from seven municipalities at the Guanabara Bay and has 1.870 associate members. Since 2007, they systematically denounce the crimes and rights violations occurred during the construction of the Rio de Janeiro Petrochemical Complex (COMPERJ), one of the largest investments in the history of PetroBras (Brazilian semi-public multinational energy corporation) and part of the Brazilian government’s Growth Acceleration Plan (PAC).

In 2009, the men and women of AHOMAR have occupied the construction sites of land and sub-sea gas pipelines for transport of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), built by a consortium between two contractors: GDK and Oceânica, hired by Petrobras. This construction is directly making artisanal fishing impossible in the Mauá-Magé beach, Guanabara Bay, where the AHOMAR headquarters is located.

They anchored their boats close to the pipelines and stayed there for 38 days. Since then, the fishermen are suffering constant death threats. That same year, in may, Paulo Santos Souza, formerly  in charge of the association’s accounting, was brutally beaten in front of his family and killed with five shots in the head. In 2010, another AHOMAR founder, Márcio Amaro, was also murdered at his home, in front of his mother and wife. Both crimes have never been cleared up.

Because of the violence and the constant threats, since 2009, Alexandre Anderson de Souza, president of AHOMAR, and his family are under protection of the Human Rights Defenders Program, living 24h under police escort. That couldn’t prevent new attempted attacks on Alexandre’s life.

Escalation of threats and more murders

By the end of 2011 and first months of 2012, the AHOMAR fisherfolk got mobilized once more against the impacts of the COMPERJ construction. Under the argument of accelerating the construction execution schedule, Petrobras and INEA (Environment State Institute of Rio de Janeiro) tried to bring back to the project a proposal that had been discarded before, during the environmental licensing process. The manoeuvre was about turning the Guaxindiba River, a Guanabara Bay afluent, into a waterway for the transportation of the COMPERJ construction equipment.

Aware of the proportions of the impact this project would have on the Guanabara Bay and artisanal fishing, the members of AHOMAR denounced the intentions of Petrobras and leaded a mobilization in solidarity to Breno Herrera, head of the Guapimirim environmental protection area, threatened to be dismissed from the National Institute for the Conservation of Biodiversity because of his opposition to this enterprise. Since then, the threats against the AHOMAR fisher folk has escalated.

To worse this situation, in february 2012, the Police Deployment of Mauá beach, were both the AHOMAR headquarters and Alexandre Anderson’s residence are located, has been deactivated, exposing the fisher folk to new threats and increasing the vulnerability of the local population. Since then, three other community leaders suffered death threats.

In this context of disarray of public security in the region and escalation of threats against the fisherfolk, Almir Nogueira de Amorim and João Luiz Telles Penetra have been murdered. This deaths were, therefore, foretold. Clear evidences were point out that both have been executed.

In face of this grave events, we express all our indignation and full solidarity to AHOMAR and to the families of the murdered fishermen. At the same time, we demand:

The undersigned will go on denouncing the killing of the activists engaged in legitimate social struggle against the destruction of the conditions of artisanal fishing in the Guanabara Bay and other fishing areas of the State of Rio de Janeiro. We will also follow closely the process of investigations and measures to be taken by the State Government in the defense of all fishefolk’s compromised with this struggle. The deaths of Almir, João Luiz, Paulo and Márcio lead us to affirm:

we are all fisherfolk, we are all AHOMAR activists!