"Trafficking, slave labor, pollution: crimes that may be happening now in the Madeira River", 25 November 2021

...At least two weeks ago, miners invaded the Madeira River, near the Rosarinho community, in Autazes (AM), after rumors that the region is rich in gold. With this, a kind of floating city with approximately 300 rafts, pushers and dredgers was installed on the site to practice illegal extraction of ore....

“Gold exploration is extremely harmful and causes damage to the environment, including the risk of mercury contamination and there is no inspection so far, as far as we know, in the region. So, in addition to exploration, there must also be crimes such as smuggling, slave labor, drug trafficking, but the main one is the crime against environmental legislation, the crime against Brazilian public property, against the Madeira River, against riverside communities and the local population”...

In this type of activity, the collected material is filtered and the water is returned to the river. In addition to being illegal, the work carried out by the dredgers pollutes and directly impacts the environment and riverside and indigenous communities.

Rafael Modesto says that CIMI, together with Greenpeace and other entities that defend human rights and the environment, are articulated so that the miners are removed from the site.

“We are demanding measures from the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Natural Resources (IBAMA) and the Federal Police so that they can inspect and carry out a stampede operation so that those rafts and dredgers are removed and when not can be withdrawn are destroyed”...

Danicley Aguiar, spokesperson for the Greenpeace Amazon campaign...[:]...

“This is one of the most important rivers in the Amazon, a source of biodiversity, especially for fish, which feeds a large part of the population, whether in the city of Porto Velho (RO) or even in the city of Manaus, as well as the smaller towns along the river channel. Madeira River”...