Controversial Brazil Environment Minister Resigns After U.S. Investigation The Brazilian government
The Brazilian government issued false documents to “legitimize” wood stolen from Indigenous lands and conservation units.
BY LOBATO FELIZOLA JULY 9, 2021 9:00 AM
Illegal logging on Indigenous land in Brazil.
The United States has reported to Brazil dozens of illegal shipments of wood from the Amazon rainforest to U.S. ports, starting an investigation that resulted in the resignation of Brazilian Environment minister Ricardo Salles. In a tumultuous administration, with acts and declarations of confrontation with environmentalists, Salles left his office on June 23th as a person under investigation, for suspicion of involvement in the illegal export of wood.
It all began in January 2020 at the port of Savannah, Georgia. Inspectors from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) confiscated three containers full of wood from Brazil because they did not have the exit documentation required by Ibama (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis), the Brazilian federal agency responsible for supervision of the environment, the equivalent to the FWS, which is linked to the Ministry of Environment.
However, the Brazilian government has tried to convince people in the United States that there was no illegality because the authorization procedure had changed. For weeks, the FWS received several letters signed by companies and by Ibama office in Pará (a state located in the Amazon region) attempting to guarantee the release of the retained shipments.
According to the inspectors, the agency’s responses proved that the cargoes had not been analyzed by the competent sector, and false information was entered into the official control system to allow wood to be exported without prior authorization from Ibama. In addition, the case violated Brazilian laws, as well as the Lacey Law in the United States, which prohibits the trade in wild products illegally taken, owned, transported, or sold.
More:
https://progressive.org/latest/brazil-environment-us-investigation-felizola-210709/
