Story

Without the Kayapó, There Won't Be a Grain Train (Spanish)

Kayapo leader Dotô Takakire is one of the main critics of the Ferrogrão "grain train" due to its projected environmental impacts. Image by Heriberto Araújo. Brazil, 2019.

Kayapo leader Dotô Takakire is one of the main critics of the Ferrogrão "grain train" due to its projected environmental impacts. Image by Heriberto Araújo. Brazil, 2019.

Dotô Takakire's face is decorated in traditional paint patterns. He is one of the leaders of the Kayapó community in the Baú and Mkragnoti reserves in the Brazilian Amazon state of Pará. He doesn't hesitate to make his point: "The Ferrogrão (grain train) will only be built if the Kayapó are consulted and if Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization [on the rights of Indigenous peoples] is complied with. If this doesn't happen, we will fight."

Like many Indigenous activists and leaders, this determined man believes that the Indigenous peoples of Brazil are facing a crucial battle for survival as a result of Jair Bolsonaro's government's plan to promote mining and agribusiness in the largest tropical forest on this planet. The most recent of these worries has its own name: the Ferrogrão (grain train).

To read the full story in Spanish, click here.

Con el rostro pintado con las formas tradicionales de su pueblo, Dotô Takakire, uno de los líderes de la etnia kayapó en las reservas Baú y Mekragnoti en el estado amazónico brasileño de Pará, no duda en infundir rotundidad a sus afirmaciones. “El Ferrogrão solo será construida si los kayapó somos consultados y si se cumple el convenio 169 de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo [sobre los derechos de los pueblos indígenas]. Si no, habrá pelea por nuestra parte”, asevera.

Al igual que numerosos activistas y líderes indígenas, este hombre menudo y determinado cree que los indios de la Amazonía brasileña enfrentan una batalla crucial por su supervivencia como consecuencia de los planes del Gobierno de Jair Bolsonaro de impulsar la minería y la agroindustria en la mayor selva tropical del planeta. Pero la última de sus preocupaciones tiene nombre propio: el “tren del grano”.