In RR, miners demonstrate against withdrawal of PL that prohibits destruction of equipment during operations

Gabriel Abreu – Cenarium Magazine

BOA VISTA – The state lawmakers of the Legislative Assembly of Roraima (ALERR) removed from the voting agenda this Tuesday, 21, the Bill (PL) No. 233/2022, authored by Lawmaker George Melo (Podemos), which prohibits environmental inspection agencies and the Military Police to destroy or disable private property seized in operations and environmental inspections in the state.

The PL also prohibits the State’s inspection bodies from accompanying federal bodies in actions of destruction and disablement of private property seized in environmental operations and inspections in the State of Roraima.

In the justification of the project, the deputy claimed that the right to property is concomitant to the legal process. Therefore, before the premature destruction of goods, the private patrimony has to be respected in a democratic state of law.

Operations without destruction

“In fact, this proposal is so that the inspection agencies, when they seize this material, do not destroy it, as is done by the Internal Revenue Service in operations. Imagine you, a producer who invests his life in the equipment and this equipment is destroyed, burned. So, you make this person vulnerable to the extreme, because he won’t be able to work, he won’t have technology and his family will probably have needs”, defended the congressman.

George Melo recalled that the country has legislation that supports the mineral exploration of the soil, such as the Federal Law No. 7.805/89 and the Statute of the Garimpeiro (Federal Law 11.685/2008), and that the Federal Constitution itself (Article 174) provides that the government should encourage the organization of mining activity in cooperatives, taking into account the protection of the environment and economic and social promotion.

What the congressman did not remember is that Roraima is the state where the largest Indigenous Land in Brazil is located, the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, and that illegal mining is making Yanomami children ill.

Manifestation

Miners who were present at the session held a demonstration and did not like the result of the removal of the bill from the agenda. The general coordinator of the Movement “Garimpo é Legal”, Rodrigo Cataratas, said that the parliamentarians were acting against the interests of the miners.

“It’s a shame that 24 lawmakers don’t accept the request of such a movement. It’s a shame, we feel unjustified. It’s a shame what 24 lawmakers do with the citizens of Roraima. We are persecuted, humiliated, we come here and propose a bill to defend the citizen, to defend the mines, and we are treated this way”, said the representative.