The Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (CPI) that opened the black box of Amazon NGOs

At the end of 2021, Oeste Magazine published a report with several unanswered questions about NGOs that parasitize the Amazon, a subject that most Brazilians still remain unaware of. Nearly two years later, a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (CPI) finally managed to open the black box of the third sector operating in the biome, exposing a decades-long unwholesome relationship between public universities, federal and state governments, and organizations sanctified by the environmentalist establishment. The CPI also revealed the exploitation of indigenous people and small farmers, the illegal extraction of natural resources, and the complicity and omission of the federal administration in defending our country’s violated sovereignty.

The veil lifted by the CPI also showed the involvement of high-ranking officials from the current Executive branch ensnared by the NGOs. The concern is such that, last week, the government leader in the Senate, Jaques Wagner (member of the Workers’ Party in the state of Bahia), was summoned to the Planalto Palace to explain why the CPI has advanced this far and how come he failed to prevent its extension. A few days ago, the CPI’s president, Plínio Valério (member of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party in the state of Amazonas), collected 41 signatures to postpone the work until December. The CPI began its activities in June. Now, with the end of the Joint Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (CPMI) of January 8 and the CPI of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), only the oversight of NGOs remains.

The government underestimated the CPI from the beginning, not even believing that it would be established, and concentrated its efforts on co-opting the CPMI and the other CPIs. Once installed, Wagner tried – unsuccessfully – to secure the rapporteur position. He launched an attack in the first session. Accompanied by senator Eliziane Gama (member of the Democratic Social Party in the state of Maranhão), Wagner told Valério that the CPI was doomed to fail right from the start due to a ruling from the Federal Court of Accounts that supposedly exempted the NGOs from irregularities regarding the Amazon Fund – information that, later, the committee’s hearings would prove to be just bravado.

Having gained cruising speed, the CPI is now closing in on larger NGOs, such as the Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA), and government agencies, such as National Indian Foundation (Funai) and Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama). Reactions started to come in. This week, the acting Attorney General of the Republic, Elizeta Ramos, who is maneuvering to stay in the position, refused to receive a complaint from the CPI about an investigation in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, overseen by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), subordinate to the minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, who has the support of Hollywood stars and the Brazilian old media.

The counterattack has also started in the media, where the main strategy was to pretend that the CPI did not exist, especially on Rede Globo. Last weekend, presenter Luciano Huck, aligned with far-left agendas and very close to Marina, invited a local resident to his show to explain how he improved his life through “sustainable tourism” instead of extracting wood and other natural resources to support his family. During the program, it is revealed that the NGO Foundation for Amazon Sustainability, which is under investigation by the CPI, is the “main responsible” for helping the man ascend socially in an “ecological and sustainable” manner.

ICMBio and ISA’s farce

The latest discovery brought to light by the CPI has debunked the narrative that all NGOs and their affiliates work for the greater good. During an investigation in Epitaciolândia (municipality in the state of Acre), just over 200 kilometers from the capital Rio Branco, members of the committee witnessed conditions akin to slavery for the residents of the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve. According to the CPI’s rapporteur, Márcio Bittar (member of the Brazil Union party in the state of Acre), these people are living in a “green prison” built by NGOs invested in hindering progress. As per Bittar, small farmers in the region even need permission from ICMBio to cut down a tree or have access to electricity. “People feel deceived, persecuted, enslaved, tutored, and without any hope,” said Bittar. “What we found there was poverty and great misery. They are fully dependent on the government.”

The rapporteur recalled that, a few years ago, when the country decided to create massive conservation units, not all the people living where these demarcations would occur were made aware of the changes. As a result, rural producers who had lived on the land for 50 years suddenly became invaders overnight. “These families were pushed into illegality,” noted Bittar. “But they were never intruders.” In a report to the Federal Prosecution Office, the CPI pointed out a variety of crimes committed by ICMBio agents against these people. The document includes irregularities such as violence against women, mistreatment, and misappropriation of land and assets.

The situation of abandonment and negligence by the government-NGOs partnership experienced by rural producers in the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve is the same as that of the people in Pari-Cachoeira, an indigenous community in the municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, in the state of Amazonas. For years, the indigenous people in the region have been waiting for NGOs to fulfill their promises, such as the implementation of basic sanitation and the construction of a reservoir, among others. However, these projects have never seen the light of day. The limited infrastructure in the community is the result of efforts by the residents in collaboration with the local government. The indigenous people also claim that they have never seen a cent of the money these organizations receive from the Amazon Fund. To obtain the funds, NGOs inform the Fund that they are implementing projects for local communities. Simultaneously, these organizations, such as ISA, publicize initiatives in the media, many of which, according to the CPI, exist only on paper.

Little is known about João Paulo Capobianco, the founder of ISA. Currently, he serves as Marina Silva’s executive secretary in the Ministry of Environment, fulfilling his duties very discreetly.  He is the “number two” in the ministry. In previous PT administrations, he even presided over the ICMBio. To the surprise of a few, the ISA has officially become part of the Lula government, after winning an internal selection process within the Ministry of Environment to join the National Committee for the Recovery of Native Vegetation (CONAVEG).

A profitable unwholesome relationship

The name of Marina Silva and other officials from the Lula government surfaced not only in the case involving ICMBio. The CPI discovered that the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), which has the minister Marina Silva as honorary advisor, received R$ 35 million from the Amazon Fund in 2022, and spent R$ 24 million of that amount on consulting services, travels, and payroll. This type of expenditure has been common in NGOs. In 2019, the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment (Imazon) received nearly R$ 2 million from the Fund to train 17 technicians in a “geotechnology” course.

In addition to this expense, in 2013, Imazon paid over R$ 200,000 to researcher Brenda Brito, who, in 2012, had just left the NGO, where she held the position of executive director. Brenda received R$ 160,000 in 2013 to write reports on regularization of lands in the crosshairs of the NGO. She also pocketed an additional R$ 60,000 between April and July 2014 to carry out work similar to what she used to do for the organization. This behavior has become routine in Amazonian NGOs. The CPI identified that in ten years, five investigated NGOs received almost R$ 1.5 billion from the Fund.

Former minister of Environment and federal deputy Ricardo Salles (member of the Liberal Party in the state of São Paulo) exposed this practice in a CPI hearing. According to him, government officials sympathetic to NGOs, after some time working in different administrations, move on to work in universities to produce literature that advocates for the third sector. Then the ones who had been working in universities migrate to the government.  “It’s a merry-go-round, in which one signs the check for the other and legitimizes the colleague’s discourse,” he observed. “They work in governments, then in universities, then in NGOs. One gives money to the other.” The CPI dubbed this cycle described by Salles as an “unwholesome relationship.”

Salles further explained that those in government dedicate themselves to funding their colleagues’ academic research. “The colleagues produce studies to support the political views of those in government and to underpin the economic interests of those who claim to defend ‘relevant causes’.” Salles also mentioned that NGOs sponsor journalists to participate in events abroad. Between 2019 and 2021, during his time in government, the Institute for Climate and Society was one of the main sponsors of international seminars and other events with the participation of journalists.

The CPI’s legacy

The CPI has reached its current phase unscathed due to a few factors: the first of them is related to the lack of coverage by the mainstream media, which deliberately pretended that the commission did not exist. The second factor relates to the indifference and ignorance of the Planalto Palace, which assigned senator Beto Faro (member of the Workers’ Party in the state of Pará) to provide a counterpoint. However, the parliamentarian rarely attended the hearings and always left early the ones he did. The president of the CPI expressed satisfaction with the work done so far. This is because, according to him, besides revealing to the country what was in the black box of the NGOs, the CPI is crafting a report that will encompass a series of legislative proposals that will increase transparency in the Amazon Fund and help the people living in the forest. Among the initiatives is the National Registry of NGOs, so the country knows how many organizations exist, the creation of mechanisms to trace foreign funding, and a quarantine period for those leaving an NGO before they begin to work in the government. “What we have been investigating is a scheme that has been in place for years,” Valério noted. “Dismantling it won’t be an easy task. But we are succeeding in unmasking hypocrites and showing Brazil what is inside the notorious black box of NGOs.”