"The project was at the centre of attention, the people just got in the way"

At first, the leaders of the tribes in the catchment area were united against the construction. An engineer from the state corporation Norte Energia was even injured with a lance during a meeting with the indigenous people. The company then changed its confrontation tactics and began courting the Kazikes. "Everyone was allowed to write a monthly wish-list worth 30,000 Reais (just under 7,000 euros) and received what they ordered," says Cleanton Curioso of the Catholic Indigenous Mission Council (CIMI). Refrigerators, outboard motors, motorbikes, diesel generators and televisions found their way into the palm huts. Norte Energia also built health clinics, new houses and schools. 

"There was a gold-digger atmosphere", recalls teacher Maria Luisa da Conceicao from Apyterewa. Many Kazikes became greedy, thought only of themselves, and lost sight of the community. Young men also wanted privileges, left the community and founded their own village, but retained their Kazike identity. Eleven communities became 84 communities, divided among themselves, tiny and far distanced from each other. The resistance crumbled or was silenced. 57 environmental and 110 indigenous activists were murdered in Brazil in 2017. The state of Pará, where the Parakaná tribal land is located, heads the top of the list in these incidents.

57 environ-mental and 110 indigenous activists were murdered in Brazil in 2017.

The dam was constructed and tens of thousands of migrant workers came to the region. The water level rose, hunting grounds were flooded and animals died or fled. Fish were poisoned by the mercury from the illegal gold diggers. The now unemployed migrant workers settled on indigenous land. The Indians' storehouses dwindled. The wooden houses with corrugated iron roofs constructed by Norte Energia were sticky ovens. The pickup truck that served as community transport lacked spare parts. The diesel deliveries for the generator were reduced. 

Kavuré s counting on solidarity from abroad: on press reports about burning rainforest and - even more importantly - threats of boycott. This scares the land grabbers, who live from the export of wood, soya, beef and rare earths. But the fight against white people's profits is unequal, and Kavuré knows that. And the Parakaná are weak. Not even all the Parakana Kazikes stand behind him. In the 40 years of contact with the white civilisation they have forgotten their traditions. Their fighting spirit has been weakened by alcohol, money, sugar and evangelical churches. In the wake of the churches, discord has reached the indigenous people. The Evangelicals proselytise aggressively against those of different faiths and tolerate no syncretism whatsoever. Those who belong to these churches are obliged to renounce traditional culture, medicine and clothing. It is a brutal assimilation programme.

"The military now has control of Amazonia"

Originally, these charismatic churches were financed by the US secret service CIA. During the Cold War they were part of the counter-insurgency of the Latin American guerrillas. The evangelical movements were supposed to compete with the left-wing liberation theology of the Catholic Church, which was considered communist. Since that time they have become independent. In Brazil, hundreds of imitation churches have arisen. They are a booming enterprise for their founders. These have become multimillionaires, controlling a media empire as well as the politics of the cross-party "Bancada evangélica", an evangelical faction that is value-conservative and economically neoliberal. Together with the agri-business and the arms lobby, they form the BBB faction - Boi (beef), Bala (bullet), Biblia. It is one of the pillars of Bolsonaro.