The Expansion of the Economic Frontier and the Diffusion of Violence in the Amazon
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Methodology
3. Results and Discussion
3.1.Spatial Diffusion of Homicidal Violence in the Amazonian Pioneer Front
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
- (a)
- The growing land dispute triggered by companies and land grabbers who formed private militias. Private “surveillance” or “security” appeared in the region to protect large tracts of land acquired by large-scale farmers. However, this land is kept idle or unproductive and is protected against squatters [2].
- (b)
- The restriction of the freedom of rural migrant workers in search of land and jobs, who cannot pay off their unmanageable debts to large-scale farmers. This situation has kept these workers under the control of armed employees who use force, intimidation, and murder to control enslaved laborers [3].
- (c)
- The presence of illegal production activities, such as logging, charcoal production, and gold exploration can result in the formation of illegal labor relationships without formal work contracts, which leads many workers to become victims of violence and slavery [3].
- (d)
- The fragmentation or amalgamation of municipalities promoted the reformulation of the territorial fabric. The creation of new municipalities resulted not only in the economic growth of the regions on the pioneer front, but in the political movement of some of the inhabitants. The pioneering spirit, the independence of will, the courage to confront difficult situations took part in the same social, political, and economic arena, whose dark side is the permanent presence of political crime in the region [3].
- (e)
- The expansion of the coca and cocaine economy that reached cities and some areas of the Amazon, such as protected areas and indigenous lands, which were integrated into the trafficking route. The state’s repressive actions, promoted through attacks on laboratory areas where narcotics are sold and circulated, as well as the activities of traffickers who in the distribution scheme enter into conflict for the definitive control of certain areas to sell drugs [53].
- (f)
- The processes of social segregation in urban spaces generated by the formation of cities in public or private colonization projects. In the cities of the colonization projects, the urban space is divided and controlled by business people from the planning sector who, when planning the occupation of empty spaces, use violence to reserve the central areas of the cities for companies [37].
- (g)
- Agrarian conflicts in the areas that received many fiscal incentives from the federal government. In these areas, a large portion of homicides occur in areas of allocation and distribution of federally funded resources, where activities linked to agricultural projects and forest management occurred [12].
- (h)
- The penetration of important migratory fronts in the region. In the Amazon, migration to the frontier is a continuous process that, even today, advances into the Amazon’s interior, leading old and new migrants in search of land. In such cases, the migrant’s establishment is hindered by various obstacles that lead to a multifaceted (spatial, professional, and social) migrant mobility: (1) the competition between the strong and the weak for land ownership, which results in bloody conflicts that are not limited to the first occupation; (2) the ecological constraints and lack of financial and technical resources necessary to adjust local environmental and economic conditions, and (3) the harshness of life in the countryside, isolation, hard work, disease, and poverty. From those conditions stem the migrant’s aforementioned multifaceted mobility [62].
- (i)
- The increase in deforestation, which results in an increase in conflict. Through deforestation, it is possible to obtain property rights with the expectation of sale later to other economic agents. As property rights are defined, the inhabitants that previously occupied the land are expelled through the use of violence [6].
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Souza, P.F.; Xavier, D.R.; Rican, S.; De Matos, V.P.; Barcellos, C. The Expansion of the Economic Frontier and the Diffusion of Violence in the Amazon. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2015, 12, 5862-5885. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120605862
Souza PF, Xavier DR, Rican S, De Matos VP, Barcellos C. The Expansion of the Economic Frontier and the Diffusion of Violence in the Amazon. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2015; 12(6):5862-5885. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120605862
Chicago/Turabian StyleSouza, Patrícia Feitosa, Diego Ricardo Xavier, Stephane Rican, Vanderlei Pascoal De Matos, and Christovam Barcellos. 2015. "The Expansion of the Economic Frontier and the Diffusion of Violence in the Amazon" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 12, no. 6: 5862-5885. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120605862