Brazil: megaproject of Chinese social-imperialism and latifundium in Bahia
A Nova Democracia (AND) has reported on a megaproject of looting and dispossession in Bahia, which shows the alliance between a part of the Brazilian latifundium and Chinese social-imperialism. The numerous threats it presents have been discovered because The Intercept Brasil reported that “there are 116 territories on the island of Itaparica threatened and 45 negative impacts listed (…) such as evictions, violations of holy sites, demolitions, environmental degradation, not to mention racism and religious intolerance.”
To carry out the project, the Ponte Salvador-Itaparica consortium has been created, with an agreement that involves the “government of Bahia, China Railway 20th Bureau Group Corporation and China Communications Construction Company”. AND also reports that “The latter participated directly in the Chinese social-imperialist and monopoly incursion into Cajueiro, a rural area of São Luís, Maranhão, with the aim of expelling the peasants and building a port there.”
Some of the territories are listed as heritage of the peoples of the area, such as Ilê Tuntun Olukotun and Omo Ilê Agbôula. The indigenous peasantry, fishermen and Quilombolas of the region have denounced that they have been ignored and have been victims of speculation since 2019 with the intrusion of Chinese monopolies. AND reports that those who have opposed or may pose a threat to these interests are threatened. This is the case of a priest who “was threatened with a phone call saying that they would make him pay between 3,000 and 5,000 reais or he would ‘disappear’ with the inhabitants of his community.”
The connivance of the State, with the latifundium and imperialism is clear. In turn, in Bahia there are a large number of crimes by the goons used by the big landlords. For example, AND mentions the case of Quilombola leader Mãe Bernadete Pacifico, who was shot dead in her own home in 2023 by goons from the latifundium and the Invasão Zero Movement.
Other Quilombola territories in this region affected by the megaproject have also been invaded by goons who surrounded the territory, but the Quilombolas resisted and the invaders desisted from taking the area, but they still maintained the siege. For their part, the state government and the Chinese monopolies claim to have met with “local leaders”, something that the social movements and organizations in the area deny.
AND recalls that “the expansion of social-imperialism and Chinese monopoly in Bahia is not new and has only been growing with the government acting as its servants.” This leads to “China, which, as a power, is expanding in Brazil, and especially in Bahia, destroying the natural environment and plundering resources, making super profits and ‘facilitating’ works for the reactionary caste of bureaucrats in exchange for the suffering of the majority of the population.”
