Transamazônica
The Transamazônica is a road construction project that has existed in various forms since the middle of the 20th century, which, when completed , is intended to connect the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of South America approximately at the level of the equator .
In the meantime, large parts of the road have been completed, but there is still no end-to-end connection in the east-west direction from Brazil to Peru . An important section of the BR-319 road from Porto Velho (state of Rondônia ) along the Bolivian- Brazilian border to Manaus (state of Amazonas ) in the heart of Amazonia was already completed in the 1980s, but is now back largely overgrown and dilapidated. Officially, the name Rodovia Transamazônica only applies to route BR-230 (see map).
So far, numerous resistances have prevented the completion of a real Transamazônica . For one thing, there is the difficult nature of the terrain; the road has to lead again and again over the south-north running valleys of the great Amazonian tributaries, which in the rainy season swell to unmistakable widths of sometimes more than 50 kilometers of marshland and destroy every road once or twice a year. On the other hand, there is political resistance, as the neighboring countries in the west, mainly Peru and Bolivia, fear a Brazilian hegemony , which could be encouraged by the construction of a road network.
There is also harsh criticism of the project from the indigenous population and from nature conservationists who fear that the Amazon rainforest will be overexploited or destroyed along the roads.
Genocides
Since 1964, several genocides have been committed against different peoples of the Indians of Brazil in order to advance the project. These were mostly perpetrated by settlers. In most cases, the government refrained from investigating the cases.
- Beicos de Pau , a people discovered in 1968 in the Brazilian rainforest with around 400 people. To make way for settlers along the Transamazônica, they were completely genocide until 1972. The Beicos de Pau were killed by arsenic and ant poison, with which food was poisoned and given to the people. The perpetrators then spread the rumor that the people had died of an epidemic .
- Bororos , tribe in the Brazilian rainforest. To make way for settlers along the Transamazonica, they are almost completely genocide.
- Carajás , people of the Amazon region of about 4,000 people, of whom only 400 survive the genocide that was perpetrated on them from 1964 onwards because they live in the Transamazônica catchment area.
- Chavantes , people of the Amazon region of several thousand people, of whom only a few hundred survive the genocide perpetrated on them from 1964 onwards because they live in the catchment area of the Transamazônica (the same motivation is also present in the following cases).
- Cintas Largas , people of the Amazon region of about 10,000 people, against whom genocidal and similar attacks began in 1964. a. from the air with bombs made of mine dynamite, because they live in the catchment area of the Transamazônica.
- Guaranis , people of the Amazon region of almost 5,000 people, who fell victim to an almost total genocide from 1964.
- Munducurus , people of the Amazon region of almost 20,000 people, of whom only 1,200 survive the genocide that was perpetrated on them from 1964 onwards.
- Patchos , indigenous community of the Amazon: two Patchos peoples are eliminated in a total genocide by infection with chickenpox .
- Tapaiunas , small community in the Amazon region, none of them survived the genocide committed on them with sugar poisoned by arsenic.
See also
literature
- FU Berlin / Latin America Institute (ed.): Transamazonica. Science Press Service, 3/1974
- Hemming, J. (1978), Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians , Cambridge / Massachusetts: Harvard University Press
- Horowitz, IL (1997), Taking Lives: Genocide and State Power (1979, 1982) New Brunswick / NJ: Transaction Books
- Lennon, P. (1972), "How the 'Dying' Tribes Die," in: The Guardian , June 4
- Lewis, N. (1974), "Genocide" in: A Documentary Report on the Condition of Indian Peoples , Berkeley: Indigena and American Friends of Brazil, pp. 9-11
- Wavell, S. (1974), "Indian File," in: The Guardian , December 21