On Friday, authorities gave a 48-hour deadline to “unblock” access roads to a Cargill grain port in Santarém and remove more than 1,000 Indigenous protesters camped outside. Prosecutors challenged the order, and protesters vow not to retreat until a decree affecting their rivers is revoked.
On Feb. 19, Indigenous protesters boarded a ship near Cargill’s grain port in Santarém, hanging banners saying “The Tapajós River isn’t merchandise” and demanding repeal of a decree privatizing three Amazon rivers. Police ordered them to leave what they called an “area of international security.”