Stepping off the ship and walking into the past

While the riverboat was up the Uruara river visiting communities, the Arctic Sunrise stopped in Prainha,the main town in the municipality where the local community wants to create the extractive reserve Renascer (Reborn).

>From the ship, we could see the small and nice church painted in blue and white. Paulo, Andrew and I went into the town where Paulo was going to give an interview for the local radio. The interview was arranged by the local Rural Workers Union, because they thought it was a good opportunity to clarify to the residents the benefits of creating the reserve Renascer for Prainha's municipality.

On the dock, we were met by the radio journalist Jair de Souza. There was also Edna, from the Union. Instead of going to the radio and then to a restaurant as we had planned, we were "invited" to talk to the Mayor Joaquim Nunes first. We didn't refuse because it is quite polite to meet the mayor of towns we visit, especially when invited. So, we went there.

But soon, the situation got worse. We were in a corridor with glass on both sides, all the rooms were crowded by people waiting for the politians to give them one minute of their precious time and to pay attention to their problems.

It seemed like a chapter in a novel written by the Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The heat was overwhelming! I started suffocating, I felt as if I was in a douane, waiting with my passport in my hand so I could get permission to enter in a country where I was not welcomed.

This is my own country, but I feel as if I am a foreigner here. "Here is Brazil, but it seems like we are waiting for the frontier police," I commented to Andrew. "This is the North", my friend answered with a sad smile.

It felt like we had to ask for permission to enter the town. But they believed that we should ask for permission for Paulo to give an interview! It was absurd, because the radios are public concessions, concessions given by the federal government to be a channel of communication for the people. It was pure Garcia Marquez, a banana republic feeling! I just missed the cows wandering in the mayor's office, as in the book "The Autumn of the Patriarch".

I just wanted a drink of water. My big pregnant belly started to feel heavy. I went down the stairs and came back with a two litre water bottle. Now, I could stay for 15 more minutes.

We had to wait a total of one and a half hours for the Mayor to finally gather four city councilors and many of his municipal secretaries and two lawyers who came very proud with their civil codes and their advocacy knowledge under their arm pits. One of them said hello to me in English and he was very disappointed when I answered back in Portuguese that I was Brazilian, so he could speak our native language.

The Mayor wanted to know our intentions with the radio interview, because the radio, obviously, belongs to him. Paulo explained why we came here: to defend the creation of the extractive reserve, explaining its pros and cons, to fly over the deforested areas to update our maps and to bring journalists to see some of the Forest Management Plans that are being investigated and suspended by the federal government.

Paulo clarified some doubts that the city councilor Arruda had about the reserve. She was intersted in learning if she could keep the 500 buffalos that she raises in her farm, because Paulo had given a modest example of raising 30 buffalos in the areas inside the reserve. It was just an example, he could have said 500 buffalos instead.

But that was enough for the city councilor to get even more angry with us. "But I have 500 buffalos! How is it for a person who has 500 buffalos?" she insisted on asking. "The plan of use is defined in a democratic process by the people who will live in and from the reserve. The number of animals depends on their impact in the environment as well," explained Paulo. Anyway, the land of the city councilor is outside the area planned for the reserve, so she doesn't need to worry. As I am an optimistic person (already impossible to cure!), I think the talk was worth something.

The talk took so long that we didn't go to the radio. The radio guy, Jair, recorded all the discussion Paulo had with the Mayor. We invited the authorities to visit the ship the next day and finally we were free to have lunch at 3pm. With the pleasant company of Edna, we had tambaqui fish fried and with onions in nativo's restaurant. We came back to the ship because we still had a lot of work to do.

Barbara

Posted by Amazon Team at December 7, 2003 08:40 PM