Even after the decree of Governor Romeu Zema (Novo), which recognizes Serra do Curral as an asset of relevant cultural interest in Minas Gerais, the activities of mining company Gute Sicht continue in the Taquaril neighborhood, in Belo Horizonte.
In a meeting at the Legislative Assembly of Minas Gerais (ALMG), this Thursday (30), the Secretary of State for Culture and Tourism, Leonidas Oliveira, did not explain the situation. He also did not know how to give details about the process of listing the Serra.
According to deputy Beatriz Cerqueira (PT), the mining company removes approximately 40 trucks of earth from the region every morning. The company’s activity operates through a conduct adjustment term (TAC) entered into by Gute Sicht with the Regional Superintendence for the Central and Metropolitan Environment (Supram).
“The governor gives interviews saying that Serra is protected, but mining continues. How can Serra be protected if mining is happening? And the municipality of Belo Horizonte is against it. It is up to the government to revoke this TAC. What is it doing? to prevent the functioning of Gute Sicht?”, questioned the deputy during the meeting.
According to experts, the Serra do Curral tipping could already have occurred last year and, therefore, Serra do Curral could already be protected against mining threats. However, according to complaints, the government of Minas Gerais made it difficult and delayed the process at the State Council for Cultural Heritage (Conep).
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A decade not to fall
In 2011, there was an initiative for the Serra do Curral, an area located in the municipalities of Nova Lima, Sabará and Belo Horizonte, to be listed. At the time, the State Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage of Minas Gerais (Iepha-MG), provoked by the Public Ministry, consented to the listing.
However, Iepha only formalized the procedure in 2018. The following year, the Institute hired the consultancy Praxis Projetos e Consultoria to prepare a dossier attesting to the importance of the Serra. The study was completed and validated in 2020.
From then on, the State Council for Cultural Heritage (Conep), a body made up of representatives of civil society, Iepha and the State Department of Culture and Tourism, should address the issue at its next meeting. However, the Council spent almost the entire year of 2021 without meeting.
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Finally, on December 21, the listing became the agenda of an ordinary meeting, but the two government representatives allegedly tried to prevent the agenda from proceeding, including the sudden closing of the meeting.
The meeting was broadcast live on YouTube and recorded. However, in the last week, the video was set to private content and is no longer accessible. The report requested the release of the video to the Secretary of State for Culture, through the Transparency Portal of Minas Gerais.
Government claimed public civil action
At the Conep meeting, the Secretary of Culture, Leônidas Oliveira, and the president of Iepha, Felipe Pires, claimed that the deliberation would be impeded, due to a public civil action by the Guaicuy Institute.
According to Pedro Andrade, a lawyer for the Guaicuy Institute, the request for the action, which was later dismissed by the judge, does not make Conep’s deliberation unfeasible and, therefore, the government representatives’ allegation is not valid. “We never asked for the Conep meeting to be cancelled. We asked the government to guide the study of tipping at the Conep meeting”, he explains.
provisional tipping
According to lawyer Daniel Queiroga, based on the legislation, the provisional tipping of Serra do Curral could have been carried out by the Council, as soon as the study commissioned by Iepha was ready, in 2020.
“The provisional listing has the same effects as the definitive listing, but it only lasts while the administrative process is taking place. If the provisional listing had taken place, the mining of Serra do Curral through the Thames would not have been authorized”, he explains.
selective listening
Defenders of Serra do Curral also highlight the difference between the way in which the government treated the tipping process and, on the other hand, the deliberation that authorized mining.
In the first case, the government reached an agreement with the Public Ministry providing for an alleged listening to civil society, with public hearings. In the second, the definition adopted by the State Council for Environmental Policy (Copam) did not promote this listening. In addition, Governor Romeu Zema even said that those who do not understand the subject should keep quiet.
electoral interest
On June 14, amid pressure and much criticism, Zema signed a decree that recognizes the Serra as an asset of relevant cultural interest and determined that measures be taken for the state to be listed and the creation of a metropolitan park.
The decree may have been an important step towards the provisional listing of the Serra. For lawyer Pedro Andrade, in addition to being insufficient, the measure may have an “electoral character”. Its effects could be reversed after the electoral dispute.
“The decree does not preclude the approval of a new listing study later, different from the current one, and this new listing study will bring changes in the demarcation of areas”, he observes.
Source: BdF Minas Gerais
Editing: Larissa Costa
