Brazil ignored U.N. letters warning of land defender threats, record killings

Shocked members of the Akroá-Gamellas indigenous group just after a brutal assault by Brazilian farmers in April 2017. Photo by Ruy Sposati / Cimi It has come to light only this month that the administration of Brazilian president Michel Temer failed to respond to two letters sent by United Nations rapporteurs in 2017 warning of pending threats to, and condemning the murders of, human rights activists in Minas Gerais and Pará states. That’s according to the U.N. Human Rights office in Geneva. Last November, the U.N. warned about the threats six peasants and their families received in Conceição do Mato Dentro, Minas Gerais, after they opened a lawsuit against the operations of Anglo American Iron Ore Brazil S.A. in that state. The company is a subsidiary of Anglo American, a global mining firm based in London. The State Public Ministry (MPE), the independent public prosecutor’s office in Minas Gerais, had previously requested the inclusion of the laborers in the Protection Program of Human Rights Defenders, of the Secretariat of Rights of the Presidency in May, 2017. One of them, Lúcio da Silva Pimenta, was reportedly threatened and expelled from his land several times without receiving compensation by representatives of Anglo American. The company did not respond to Mongabay’s request for comment. Anglo American of Brazil is currently waiting for licensing approval in order to begin the expansion of the Sapo iron mine, which is part of the Minas-Rio Project/System that connects the mine (located near the town of Conceição Mato Dentro), to the export terminal Port…

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