RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil: Indigenous protesters in Brazil occupied a shipping terminal operated by US agricultural giant Cargill on Saturday, demanding a ban on dredging Amazon waterways.
The South American nation is the world’s top exporter of soy and maize, and ongoing efforts to upgrade river ports aim to ease transportation.
Demonstrators had been gathering outside the terminal in Santarem, in northern Brazil’s Para state, for a month before taking over company offices this weekend.
In a statement to AFP the company said operations were suspended, blaming an “ongoing dispute between government authorities and Indigenous communities.”
Protesters are calling for the repeal of an order signed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in August that designated Amazonian rivers as priority areas for shipping and port development.
