Afro-Brazilian Communities Fight a Rain of Pesticides & the Company Behind It
Quilombola communities in the Sapê do Norte region of Brazil’s Espírito Santo state have been reporting toxic crop dusting by pulp and paper company Suzano on its eucalyptus plantations.
April 24, 2024 | Source: Mongabay | by Vitor Prado dos Anjos
CONCEIÇÃO DA BARRA, Espírito Santo — Beatriz Cassiano was working in her vegetable garden when she suddenly heard her grandson yelling, “Grandma, get out of there, get out, come in the house! The plane!”
In an interview with Mongabay, Cassiano recalls being caught off guard by an airplane dropping pesticides as it flew over the homes in her community. “We didn’t know, [nobody] let us know it would happen. They were dumping the poison out, but they were turning in the air over our people’s properties,” she says.
At a certain point, Cassiano was hit by the pesticides. “I was powdered with it, and my arm started to itch.” Her garden didn’t withstand the impact of the pesticides. “I lost our pumpkin plants, our corn …”
The community of Linharinho lies in the municipality of Conceição da Barra, a part of Espírito Santo state known as Sapê do Norte. It is a quilombo, a traditional Brazilian community originally formed by runaway enslaved people. There are 32 quilombos in Sapê do Norte officially recognized by the government’s Palmares Cultural Foundation.