Paving the way for destruction

On the way to Realidade, a group of politicians chose to ignore what could be seen through the car windows. Located in the Humaitá district, Realidade lies at the epicenter of the Amazon deforestation frontier. Here, devastation, forest fires, logging,-road construction, and land grabbing are part of everyday life.

The BR-139 highway cuts through this small town in southern Amazonas. This section of the road remains unpaved.

In a live broadcast on social media along the BR-319 route, the parliamentarians downplay the number of dirt roads branching off from the highway, which, according to the Minister of the Environment and Climate, Marina Silva, are catalysts for deforestation and land grabbing, exposing previously inaccessible rainforest areas.

“The [forest along] BR-319 is completely preserved. We saw it,” said Senator Omar Aziz (PSD-AM) after arriving in the district, standing on a stage crowded with mayors, set up between the health centre and the school. Aziz wants to be elected governor of Amazonas County in 2026.

“Marina Silva does not own Brazil, she does not own our future, she cannot be greater than the Amazonians,' continued Senator Eduardo Braga, representing the Brazilian Democratic Movement party, MDB, wearing a cap that reads 'BR-319 now,” the motto of the delegation that Saturday. Braga will seek re-election next year. He and Aziz are allies of President Lula.

The paving of the 406 km highway connecting Manaus to Porto Velho, a stretch that becomes impassable during the Amazonian rainy season, has become a political torch, with its paving a quest for votes.

The highway was built in the 1970s, during the military dictatorship, and cut through a vast block of preserved forest, comprising mosaics of conservation units and Indigenous lands.

By the 1990s, the middle section no longer had any asphalt, and the land connection between the two major Amazonian capitals – Manaus, with 2 million inhabitants, and Porto Velho, with 460,000 – was abandoned.

Now, with the concrete prospect of the highway being paved, the reality seen from the windows of the politicians' car is impossible to ignore.

The branching dirt roads had already multiplied before the arrival of asphalt, and deforestation had accelerated in the final years of Jair Bolsonaro's (PL) government.

Under Lula's government, land grabbing has intensified, and land-for-sale signs are scattered along the edges advertising devastation. A similar development occurred when the state of Rondônia was colonized by a surge of farmers in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, resulting in vast and rapid forest losses to make way for pasture and cattle.

Settlers have illegally occupied forest areas, and traditional forest communities along the Madeira River are being trapped by the expansion of land grabbing driven by the BR-319 highway. Following the destruction of what was once an important source of income for riverine communities, such as chestnut and acai trees, reports of death threats and land seizures are common. Fire is a crucial land-grabbing tactic, and kilometres of recently cleared forest along the highway are burned by those who occupy the land.

Journalists from the Brazilian newspaper, Folha de Sao Paulo, travelled the 890 km of the BR-319 highway between Manaus and Porto Velho without any logistical problems during this dry season. Buses, lorries and even small cars travel along the road.

The two ends, which are paved, have asphalt in good condition. The federal government's National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT) is paving other sections prior to the middle section, for which there is still no environmental licence.

There are, in fact, two licensing processes: one for road maintenance and another for the paving of the middle section. All sections are in a condition suitable for traffic, but drivers travelling along the road experience that preparations are being made for the final paving.

“There is an attempt to replace the Amazonian way of life, such as that of Indigenous peoples and riverine communities, with other cultures,” says Araújo.

Along the BR-319 highway, this translates into pressure and threats of expulsion and death, as reported by communities in the Lago do Capanã Grande Extractive Reserve, a preserved area crossed by the highway near Manicoré. The communities that live here along the Madeira River are located far from the highway, but pressure from land grabbers has intensified in recent years.

The reserve's periphery is experiencing degradation and deforestation, with adverse impacts on springs and streams. It follows a scenario similar to the part of the highway, closest to Manaus, where farms and buffalo ranches have multiplied.

At the point where the unpaved section of the road begins, access to the community of Igapó-Açu is only possible by ferry. Approximately 70 families reside in wooden houses located very close to the highway, and some will need to be relocated if the road upgrade proceeds.

In the area around the middle section of the highway, deforestation has been especially prominent with fires, degradation, and the clearing of vast areas of forest.

A rustic sign announces the sale of 186 hectares of land, along with the seller's WhatsApp contact information. In a message, a young man told the Folha journalists that he has a 'definitive title' to the 'two lots'; that it is an area of "shrubland", 'cleared by Incra [National Institute of Colonisation and Agrarian Reform]'; and that he wants R$800,000 for the land.

“I'll give you a deadline too, as agreed. I'll get a good truck this year. And cattle for next year,” he said.

This type of practice becomes more evident the further you travel along the highway, until you reach Realidade. When he spoke at the podium where the anti-Marina [environment minister] senators were, the mayor of Humaitá, Dedei Lobo (União Brasil), said that the district has 1,300 houses. Less than 20 years ago, there were 15 houses.

“Realidade is the fastest growing district in Amazonas. The school here is the largest in Humaitá,” said Dedei.

In the area surrounding the town, smaller rural settlements are being trampled upon, many of which are abandoned due to the advance of land grabbers and loggers.

This encroachment is mainly due to a 30 km logging road branching off the BR-319 highway, along which the forest has been almost entirely destroyed. From this dirt road, other, more minor roads branch out, with land being illegally acquired, and deforestation and fires spreading into the forest.

Families of settlers occupy areas embargoed by the environmental authority, Ibama. In attempts to consolidate their illegal occupation, land grabbers set fire to the forest and build houses with no residents.

Those who resist say they suffer threats and harassment from land buyers.

Roads connect the villages, where most families live off fishing, hunting and collecting and small-scale farming, to the new settlements occupied by land grabbers. The extractivism – especially the collection of chestnuts and açaí berries – often takes place in the vicinity of the new settlement areas.

"There used to be an immense amount of chestnuts and açaí berries. People took care of them, made paths to the chestnut trees. But they cut everything down,“says José Nei Nogueira, 46, a farmer who lives with his children in Muanense. “And the animals we hunt are hard to find."

Nogueira says that the occupiers 'cut everything down' in the floodplain area, which dried up streams and impacted springs. There is illegal logging and 'uncontrolled sale' of land, according to the farmer.

“After they opened the roads from Realidade to here, everything got worse,” says Ngueira. “Back there, everything has been cut down, everything has been deforested.”

The flow of motorcycles in the community has intensified, leading to fear and insecurity among teachers at the school. It is common for young people from riverside communities to work on illegal gold mining dredgers, which are frequent along the Madeira River. With the expansion of deforestation, they are drawn toward these new work opportunities.

Raimundo Sandro Cruz, 45, a former health worker and malaria microscopist in the community, says he has become more sought after by mothers for advice on their children's drug use. Raimundo founded the evangelical church Pentecostal Church Aliança de Fogo com o Noivo in Muanense.

'Drug abuse already existed, but it intensified, it got out of control,' says Raimundo. 'The road brings progress, but it also brings bad things.'

In Pirapitinga, local residents say they are afraid of invaders who have taken over the settlement. Even with the advance of fire and cattle grazing, some families insist on remaining in the region, planting cassava and collecting pupunha, açaí and cupuaçu. Marilena Pantoja, 50, is one of them.

She chairs the Igarapé Pirapitinga Agroextractivist Association and has seen everything deteriorate since the roads began spreading four years ago. Marilena lives in Pirapitinga with her husband and children.

Harassment over land is increasing in one of the most contested areas of the BR-319 highway, even before the paving has begun.

'They promised they would go in there to inspect. And they never did,' she says .

A longer version of this article was first published i Portuguese in Folha de São Paulo 29 September 2025.