BRASIL: 2 June UPDATE: Despite Protests...Massive Belo Monte Dam Approved For Amazon.

LINK CHANGE / NYTIMES/ More Details

    The massive $17bn usd Belo Monte dam has finally been approved for construction in western Para state on the Xingu river in the Amazon rainforest.
    Indigena and environmentalists have long protested building what will be the third largest dam in the world.
    The dam will provide 11,200 megawatts or about 11% of the power produced in Brasil.
   An area of 516 square kms/198 square miles/ on the Xingu river will be flooded and displace 20,000 - 40,000 people.

BRASIL: Judge Blocks Building Massive Belo Monte Dam.

BBC/ With Map/

    In a setback to Brasil's decrepit infrastructure and rapidly growing power needs, federal Judge Ronaldo Desterro blocked construction of the Amazon's massive $11 billion usd hydro-electric Belo Monte dam...because of environmental concerns.
    Desterro cited 29 environmental conditions not met like the recovery of degraded areas and measures to guarantee the navigability of rivers.
    He also stopped BNDES, the national development bank, from financing the project.
    The11,000-megawatt dam would be the biggest in the world after the Three Gorges in China and  Brasil's own Itaipu. 
    Three previous injunctions have been overturned.

    Environmentalists claim the 6km dam threatens indigena groups and would make as many as 50,000 people homeless.

BRASIL: Indigena Protest Massive Belo Monte Dam; January Inflation Soars.

BBC/

    In Brasilia, hundreds of indigena  protested the construction of the Belo Monte dam, projected to be world's third biggest hydro-electric dam.
   They delivered a petition signed by 600,000 people opposing it.
  "We don't want Belo Monte because it will destroy our rivers, our jungle and our way of life," said one tribe leader.
    Another tribal leader said he and his tribe had not been given enough information about the project.
     Ireo Kayapo said that if his tribe were to be driven from its land, "there'll be war and blood will be spilled".

 On BRASIL'S INFLATION:
   President Rousseff  announced cutting nearly 50 billion reais ($30 billion) from this year’s budget as to help the central bank contain inflation.

     January's inflation rate of .83 % was the highest monthly jump in almost six years since April 2005, when it hit 0.87 percent. Inflation quickened to 5.91 percent in 2010 with record low unemployment and credit growth.
   At January's pace, Brasil would set a 5.99% annual inflation rate... again well above the 4.5% central bank target.
  Soaring food prices and growing consumer demand are being blamed for the jump.
  It increases pressure on President Rousseff to raise the nation's 11.25 % overnight rate, already one of the world's highest.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-09/brazil-is-said-to-cut-30-billion-from-2011-budget-in-anti-inflation-drive.html

BRASIL: Lula Wants "Gringos Noses" Out Of Proposed Amazon Dam.

AP/MIAMI HERALD/    President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says no "gringo should stick their nose in where it does not belong." He was referring to the  "gringo" outsiders who plan to protest the projected $12 billion Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon. The project has been in and out of courts for 20 years. It is also opposed by celebrities like Sting and "Avatar" director James Cameron.

BRASIL: Serra Speaks Out About Chavez, Petrobras and Belo Monte Dam.

REUTERS/      Jose Serra, the main opposition candidate in October's presidential election criticized proposed Petrobras reform plans and wants new energy alternatives explored. Serra said Petrobras and energy sector regulator, ANP, were already capable of managing development of deep sea oil reserves. He also believes a new dam on the Amazon's Xingu River is important for electricity supply but wants further debate. Serra praised Hugo Chavez's support of his opponent Rousseff : “I want to say something, I think it’s great, very good for me that Chávez should support Rousseff.” Serra told MercoPress: that “as we all know, this gentleman likes to persecute and shut down all media that does not support him. Let us not forget also that Mr. Chavez could have won many elections but his debut in politics was as leader of a bloody military coup,” underlined Serra. “Only later was he elected”.

BRASIL: Contract To Build Belo Monte Dam Is Awarded; Bloodshed Threatened.

GUARDIAN.UK/    The on again, off again struggle to build the Amazon's mammoth Belo Monte Dam has moved forward with the rights awarded to a consortium of 9 companies called the Norte Energia. Bidding was stopped three times before a final appeal let the winner be announced. Greenpeace dumped tons of manure outside the offices of the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (Aneel) in Brasilia and commented that it was "the legacy that the Lula government is leaving by insisting on this project." Kayapó leader Raoni Metuktire said indigenous men from the Xingu were preparing their bows and arrows in order to fight off the dam. "I think that today the war is about to start once more and the Indians will be forced to kill the white men again so they leave our lands alone," he said. "I think the white man wants too much, our water, our land. There will be a war so the white man cannot interfere in our lands again."

BRASIL: 1ST UPDATE: Judge Overturns Ruling That Suspends Amazon Dam Construction Bidding.

NYTIMES/ UPDATE 17 Abril/    A judge in Brasilia has overturned a ruling that suspended bids to build the mammoth Belo Monte dam in the Amazon. "I am confident the environmental license will be granted to Belo Monte," said Pedro Alberto Bignelli of  the environmental protection agency. "The result of three years of work and analysis will be upheld when the government appeals." Brasil's need for new energy sources was apparent last year after a blackout darkened much of the nation. Belo Monte would supply 6% of electricity by 2014, when Brasil hosts the World Cup and two years before the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Environmentalists and indigenous groups believe Belo Monte will wipe-out wildlife and the livelihoods of 40,000 people and argue that most of the energy will go to big mining operations.

BRASIL: Avatar's Famous Director Supports Indians Fighting Proposed Dam.

NYTIMES/    Director James Cameron, rich and famous after the worldwide success of his movie "Avatar," is now speaking out loudly against the environmental destruction threatening the world's indigenous peoples. After a recent trip to the Amazon, he has focused his anger on the proposed Belo Monte dam. Belo Monte would be the world's third largest dam and flood hundreds of square miles in the Amazon while drying-up 60-miles of the Xingu River and devastating the indigenous communities that live along it.

BRASIL: Bids Sought For Amazon's Belo Monte Dam.

LAHT/      Brasil has opened-up bidding to build and operate the Belo Monte dam in its Amazon jungle. Belo Monte will be the world’s third-largest hydroelectric dam. It is strongly opposed by environmentalists and the indigenous people. The $10.6 billion Belo Monte complex will be built on the Xingu River, an Amazon tributary in the northern state of Para.

BRASIL: Controversial Belo Monte Dam Project Approved.

BBC/    Brasil has granted an environmental licence for the construction of the controversial Belo Monte hydro-electric dam in the Amazon rainforest.
The dam project on the Xingu river, a tributary of the Para River, was abandoned in the 1990s after national and worldwide protests. The lives of up to 40,000 indigenous people could be affected by flooding the 500 sq km of land.

BRASIL: Amazon Indians Threaten "River Of Blood" Over Dam.

LAHT/
Indians living on the banks of the Xingu River in Amazonia threatened Brasil with a “river of blood” if the construction of the large Belo Monte dam is not stopped. "The Xingu River can transform itself into a river of blood. Let Brasil and the world know what can occur in the future if the Brasilian leaders do not respect our rights,” wrote the Indians in a letter.
The Indians added that they were not going to talk with government representatives because they have already spoken “for too long” over the last 20 years.