Quilombola Blockade Halts Brazil BioFuels Expansion in Pará’s Acará Valley

For four decades, quilombola families—descendants of enslaved Black laborers—have been displaced in Pará, northern Brazil, first by illegal loggers, then by ranchers and miners. The arrival of the palm-oil biofuel sector intensified the pressure. Over the past two decades, the federal government subsidised palm-oil firms that claimed ever-larger tracts of traditional quilombola territory. By 2020, Brasil BioFuels (BBF) had taken control of more than 200,000 hectares near the Acará River, installing fences, gates and private security.

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• 2020: BBF’s takeover triggers a surge of police reports—over 1,000 filings accusing quilombolas of threats, property damage and theft.

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• Late 2021: BBF security chief Walter Romero Ferrari leads armed men to disperse a protest; court records later charge Ferrari and another executive with torture (case pending).

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• 24 February 2022: Dias dos Santos and other community members padlocked BBF’s gate and refused to move, despite being unarmed. “I know that the risk of being killed is very high,” — Josias Dias

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• 2024: BBF chief executive Milton Steagall describes the company as a job creator and environmentalist, asserting that BBF inherited existing palm-cultivation activities.

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• 2024-2025: Courts have refused to enforce most BBF land claims; a provisional local-court ruling found that 72 % of the disputed area overlaps quilombola and riverside lands, cancelling 24 land registrations.

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• Current control: Approximately 2,300 quilombola residents now manage nearly 32,400 hectares formerly cultivated by BBF.

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• Local court (provisional ruling): Determined that the majority of the contested land belongs to quilombola and riverside communities, leading to the cancellation of multiple land titles.

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• “I know that the risk of being killed is very high,” — Josias Dias

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The blockade illustrates a rare instance where a quilombola community has physically reclaimed and begun reforesting former monoculture plantations, while simultaneously confronting armed corporate security, pending criminal charges, and an uncertain legal path to formal land titles.

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