A new report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals how illegal cattle raised in the Apyterewa Indigenous Territory were laundered into the supply chains of two of Brazil’s largest beef companies, JBS and Frigol, between 2020 and early 2023. Before a government crackdown in late 2023, an estimated 60,000 cattle were being raised in Apyterewa, which is the home of the Parakanã Indigenous peoples in the state of Pará, despite commercial ranching being illegal there under federal law. At the time, invaders had razed more than 47,600 hectares (117,600 acres) of land, turning Apyterewa into the most deforested Indigenous territory in the Amazon. “More than half of our land was deforested,” Ty’e Parakanã, an Indigenous leader of the Parakanã peoples, told Mongabay in a voice message. “It completely destroyed our land and polluted our river.” The government operation to evict invaders is still underway, he said. “There are still cattle, and they are taking them out slowly.” Deforestation inside the Apyterewa Indigenous territory, home to the Parakanã Indigenous peoples, and the location of 86 illegal farms identified by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF). Map courtesy of the EIA. The EIA report presents several case studies that demonstrate how illegal cattle were able to enter the supply chains of JBS and Frigol. In the first case, cattle were moved from inside Apyterewa without transportation permits, known as GTAs, to farms outside the Indigenous territory. The farmers then falsely declared the animals were raised on legal farms, therefore concealing the true…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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