Femarh charges residents and workers at the Olaria, on the banks of the Branco River

Residents and workers of Vila Real and Vila Vintém in the municipality of Cantá, an area called Olaria, sought out the Public Defender’s Office of the State of Roraima (DPE-RR) for legal guidance, after receiving infraction notices from the State Environmental Foundation (Femarh).

More than 500 families live and work there, the target of a lawsuit pending before the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and calling for the environmental preservation area to be vacated. The STF suspended the eviction order in November 2023 and ordered the residents to remain in the location until the final judgment of the action.

There is also a process in progress at the 2nd Public Finance Court of the District of Boa Vista, which determines the State of Roraima to submit a technical study of the area in question to the competent environmental body, requesting the environmental license and, after approval of the study and license, carry out the project to recover the degraded area.

However, on March 11, 12 and 13, 2024, residents began to receive fines from Femarh for removing clay from the permanent preservation area for the production of bricks, without environmental licensing.

The legal advisor of the Public Finance Court, Atayane Thomaz, reported that the brickmakers reported that they have lived and worked in that area for 30 years and that, during all this time, the State environmental agency never carried out any inspection or justified that the production of bricks it was irregular.

“They told me that they have been there for 30 years, working there and have had no supervision. Femarh was never there to justify that it was improper, besides being their home. Due to the fines, they are like faithful custodians of the bricks, that is, they can only take care of the bricks, they cannot sell them, they cannot do anything. Some reported that the production had already been sold and was seized. In addition to having production embargoed, they cannot work and cannot deliver the production they sold in advance”, he explained.

Given the urgent situation of risk to the survival of so many families, the demand will be passed on by the Public Finance Court office to the Public Defender’s Special Action Group (GAED), to act in the defense of collective rights, as explained by the legal advisor.

Resident and worker in the area, Sebastião Duarte Filho, 26 years old, faced with the impossibility of continuing to support his families, sought out the Public Defender’s Office together with some neighbors, for legal guidance and an attempt to reverse the situation.

“I live and work there and the money I earn comes from there, to support my family. I received the paper that gave us the fine at Olaria and we went to the Public Defender’s Office to see what we could resolve. We will forward the documents as quickly as possible, because the fines are already there, to try to reverse this situation”, said Sebastião, apprehensive.

Residents were referred to DPE-RR, registered in the system, provided infraction notices and personal documents to be presented to GAED for appropriate action.