Lula's visit to La Paz provokes the detention of Rio Madeira defenders

At approximately 7:00 pm on Sunday, Dec. 17, as they were waiting for the arrival of Brazilian President Luis Ignacio "Lula" da Silva at the Plaza Murillo facing the Executive and Legislative Palaces, activists from Fobomade (Bolivian Forum on Environment and Development) and Qanasa Animales were detained by the Bolivian police.  The group of young environmentalists from El Alto and La Paz carried signs awaiting the arrival of the Brazilian President to demonstrate the Bolivia's rejection of the "irresponsible" decision to carry forward the contruction of the Jirau and San Antonio hydroelectric dams on the Madeira River, which would seriously impact the Bolivian and Brazilian territory and destroy the Amazon.

The peaceful action by the activists in support of the indigenous people and peasant farmers of the Bolivian Amazon region demands that the government of Brazil end the destruction of the Amazon and the Bolivian government demand that Brazil suspend the bidding process and building of the dams.  The indigenous and peasant organizations filed a demand against the Brazilian government before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Dec. 7th for the violation of their rights, achieving the immediate support of the affected communities and the Movement of Dam Affected Communities (MAB) in Brazil.  At a time when the country is experiencing a series of violent and criminal acts by radical, ultra-right groups that have not been punished, the breakup of a peaceful protest by a group of activists by the security detail of the Brazilian Embassy that lead to the detention of 5 persons, including two women, represents a threat to the freedom of expression, protested Fobomade. The detention was justified with the argument that an act of protest harms of Bolivian-Brazilian relations, when the truthful reason behind the rejection of the Lula da Silva government is the unrestricted defense of multinational business interests in the construction, finance and agroindustry sectors that intend to convert the Amazon forest to the production of agrofuels, to deliver direct control of the rivers and the permit for plundering the region's natural resources to the multinationals, all of which is rooted in the illegal process of building the San Antion and Jirau hydroelectric dams.