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Today I want to thread about the situation in the state of Amapá, Brazil, where blackouts and energy rationing are causing chaos and suffering. This is structural violence / structural racism and the global MSM is practically silent. Ppl r protesting, police r repressing https://twitter.com/personalescrito/status/1325296655042813953
Amapá is 76% BIPOC and very poor, 37% live on <$20/mo. Today is the 9th day since the blackout and energy rationing leaves Black quilombola communities without power at all. This is structural violence against poor and Black ppl https://twitter.com/proindio/status/1326460931925225472
@fcrmorais posted the energy rotation schedule: each neighborhood in Macapá, the capital, gets 6 hours power on, 6 hrs off. “Food prices have shot up, there are nightly protests in several neighborhoods that are without power. Practically a Mad Max in Amazonia.” #SOSAmapa https://twitter.com/fcrmorais/status/1325485656190152708
People in neighborhoods without power in Amapá are protesting. The federal government has sent in the military police Special Operations Battalion to repress protestors with rubber bullets. https://twitter.com/fabiopf08fabio/status/1325614466545971201
Military police deployed to Amapá are targeting protestors for retaliation. One protestor had filed a complaint of brutality. Here, MPs roll up to his workplace, tell him to come out with his hands up. He wisely refuses. Tw // gun drawn, gun pointed https://twitter.com/belemtransito/status/1326528214810898436
At the root of the protests is the fact that Amapá has over 1000 MW of installed hydropower, but only uses 250. The power company exports the power from Amapá while leaving the ppl there without power. https://twitter.com/fcrmorais/status/1326020165952102401
A single substation supplies power to the whole state of Amapá, with no backup. Private company that operates the substation charges high prices and is not answering journalist queries. Amapá hydropower goes out of state while residents suffer blackouts. https://oglobo.globo.com/economia/conheca-historico-de-problemas-da-empresa-responsavel-pela-subestacao-que-deixou-amapa-as-escuras-24737885
Construction of dams in Amapá destroyed the ‘pororoca’, a natural phenomenon beloved of surfers, caused by sea tides coming up the Amazon River. But privatization has led to underinvestment in infrastructure, so that poor local people are still without power. https://twitter.com/luizasnts__/status/1326606105485697024
Protests in Amapá, heavily repressed by military police, are focusing on the negligence of the firm controlling privatized energy in the state and the inaction of the government, more interested in repression than addressing the problem. https://twitter.com/diogotapuio/status/1326638811196100609
Let’s look at the company that has the contract to operate the Amapá power substation. Isolux is Spanish. They are heavily indebted and last year owed 315 million euros in back taxes in Spain, 2nd most of any Spanish company. https://elpais.com/economia/2019/06/27/actualidad/1561634941_045699.html
Isolux has been fined for involvement in an illegal scheme to obtain public contracts at reduced costs by collusion with other private bidders. https://elpais.com/economia/2019/03/27/actualidad/1553717664_295149.html
Isolux obtained public contracts in Catalunya while the Pujol family amassed a fortune thanks to charging illegal commissions on public contracts, which also served to finance their political party. https://elpais.com/politica/2019/08/15/actualidad/1565879983_942585.html
Isolux declared bankruptcy, over 5 billion euros in debt. Then, the company’s own ex-directors bought back Isolux’s energy assets at a reduced cost. https://elpais.com/economia/2019/01/10/actualidad/1547133569_999203.html
It’s unclear to me right now if the Amapá substation is currently operated by the banks that took over Isolux or by the new company that has taken over portions of the old Isolux operations. Either way, they have collected money while underinvesting, causing suffering and chaos
It’s all interconnected. The Brazilian government privatizes power and gives the Amapá contract to a corrupt, indebted, tax-evading company in Spain, which does not modernize the grid, but leaves the whole state dependent on one substation.
The substation fails, leaving one of the poorest states in darkness and rolling blackouts. The people protest, the government sends in military police special ops units. People are teargassed and shot with rubber bullets while their money flows out of Brazil to Spain. /end thread https://twitter.com/midianinja/status/1325148987159011329
