02x09 - Amazon Mafia

[bunniefuu]

♪ ♪

ALEX: Uh‐hmm.

MARIANA: The Amazon rainforest
is at a tipping point.

So all the little
red dots, this is all...

MARIANA: And criminal
networks are pushing it closer

to the edge.

To understand
how they operate,

I'll travel to a
violent frontier.

MARIANA: What's fueling
the multi‐billion dollar
trade for ill*gal timber?

How is a global gold rush
wreaking havoc on the jungle?

He says it can end up in a
gold ring just like mine.

And what are the
stakes for our planet?

MOIRA: I think it makes sense
to think about the Amazon
as the canary in the coal mine.

MARIANA: Watch out, watch out!

MOIRA: If we can't
save it, we're doomed.

♪ ♪

(singing in native language).

MARIANA: 500 miles
from the mouth of the
Amazon lies Itaituba,

where a gold rush
feeling hangs in the air.

So as soon as you get here,

you get a sense
that this whole town

is geared towards
exploiting the Amazon.

You can see it everywhere.

There's gold shops,
there's places
selling chainsaws.

And even the local mayor
is a former gold miner.

While it might not surprise
you that ill*gal logging is a
major factor in deforestation,

gold mining is
equally malicious.

I've come to this
region where nearly 30 tons

of gold are
extracted illegally every year,

as the first step on my
mission to understand how

criminal networks are
decimating the Amazon.

Okay. We're here.

But how do I actually
make my way into the
Amazon's underworld?

Through a contact,

I've set up a meeting
with a driver who works
for local prospectors.

MARIANA: Clearly, this is not
the answer I'm looking for.

But what I've learned
from these situations
is to never take the first no

as the final answer.

MARIANA: And to
keep buying drinks.

(singing in native language).

MARIANA: After a few rounds,
the driver's tune has changed.

MARIANA: He now says he
might be able to get me
into a mine he knows,

deep in the Amazon jungle.

MARIANA: But there's a catch.

MARIANA: And so, thanks
to my new drinking buddy,
the next morning,

I find myself on one of the
Amazon's infamous small planes.

MARIANA: Looking
out the window,

while trying not to
think about going down
in a ball of flames,

I'm struck by the
immensity of the Amazon.

But in 2020,
an area the size of 345
Manhattans was wiped out.

And in Brazil, up to 94%
of that deforestation can
be considered ill*gal.

So, all these brown dots
that you see, all these
clearings in the jungle,

that's all the
ill*gal gold mines.

So, who are the
criminals responsible
for this destruction?

And why is gold mining so
devastating to the rainforest?

I'm hoping to find out.

This is what it's like to land
on a runway made out of dirt.

I can't tell you
where I'm headed.

It's an agreement I made
last night with the driver.

So that's our guys
waiting for us over there.

They are our contacts who
are taking us to the mine.

Guys, seriously.

Cameras, cameras down.

This is the area they asked
not to film as we arrived.

But I can tell you this,

it's always a little
nerve‐wracking getting
in a car with a masked man,

someone I don't
know if I can trust.

MARIANA: The masked man,
who I will be calling Alan,

says he's taking me to one
of his four gold mines,

deep in the rainforest.

MARIANA: Alan tells me that
other ill*gal prospectors
in the area know I'm here

and we need to be on guard.

MARIANA: They almost prevented
us from even landing.

And so, he's saying
that people are just
super scared here.

In Brazil, ill*gal
gold mining is
estimated to bring in

more than $1 billion a year.

While gold trafficking is
less widespread than logging,

it can leave permanent scars.

Loggers often harvest valuable
trees and leave the rest.

Miners, however, slash
everything in their path.

Wow.

We're surrounded
by the jungle here.

It's just a big clearing
right in the middle
of the rainforest.

This is pretty big.

Much bigger than I expected.

At the belly of a
man‐made crater, miners
toil away in the mud,

stripping back layer
after layer of earth.

MARIANA: It's a
backbreaking, dirty job.

Gold mines are a breeding
ground for malaria
and the pace is furious.

It's crazy to think that
all of this has been
done in just one week.

They just started working
in this area a week ago and

you can see how much of it
is already cleared out.

Deforestation from ill*gal
gold mining has increased by
more than 90% in recent years.

And our insatiable thirst for
the precious metal threatens to
make the situation even worse.

Tech companies consume hundreds
of tons of gold a year.

Pure gold is used
in every smartphone.

MOIRA: Where are the products
that are being produced in
the Amazon going?

They're coming here to the U. S.
They're going to Europe.

These massive corporations
could decide to really
trace the supply chains

but they're choosing not to.

MARIANA: The murky supply
chain ensures that

"dirty gold" finds
its way into the market,

much as blood diamonds do.

And in Brazil,
"dirty gold" has
added significance.

Oh, it's mercury that
they were putting in.

MARIANA: So he just has this
mercury and the gold sort of
combines with the mercury

and that's how they look
and find gold here.

Despite what Alan says,

mercury leaves rivers poisoned.

The pollution can spread
hundreds of miles downstream.

You see these little specks?

The yellow specks are
gold and these little sort
of silver little ba*ls,

that's the gold covered
in mercury.

Alan then takes the
unrefined gold to a dealer,

one who doesn't ask
too many questions.

MARIANA: A gold ring,
just like mine.

MARIANA: But if miners
like Alan are simply left
to their own devices,

the Amazon will continue
to face a dark future.

And in many cases,
they actually have very
little to show for it.

Sometimes they only get
70 to 80 grams of gold
out of an area like this,

so all this work was
almost for nothing.

That amount means only
a few thousand dollars for

a week of work for Alan
and his two dozen workers.

MARIANA: Traffickers in
the Amazon are playing
a high‐stakes game.

And more times than not,
they're losing.

MARIANA: This man is an
inside source from IBAMA,

Brazil's environmental
protection agency.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: My source from IBAMA
says that at the moment,

his agency is losing the
battle with the Amazon mafia.

MARIANA: And corruption in
Brazil allows international
criminal organizations

to reap the benefits.

MARIANA: But getting
black market commodities
out of the country relies

on one key player,
the middle man.

MARIANA: This dealer
buys gold from mines all
over the Amazon basin.

When he has enough,
he melts it and sells it
to international buyers.

MARIANA: Gold laundering,

the mixing of legal
and ill*gal gold,

nearly ensures that
trafficked gold finds
its way into the market.

MOIRA: These massive
corporations will turn a
blind eye to the mixing of

illegally obtained materials
with legally obtained materials.

And then they can take the
certificate of authenticity for
the legally obtained stuff

and slap it on the
whole batch and say,

"Okay, we're good."

MARIANA: And because of this,

90% of Fortune 500
companies that invest
in gold can be linked

to ill*gal mines
in Latin America.

MARIANA: After
seeing the effects of
gold mining firsthand,

I'm going deeper
into the Amazon,

hoping to find those
responsible for

deforestation's original sin.

MOIRA: The first step in
deforestation in the Amazon
is usually ill*gal logging.

So there are a
few types of wood in the
Amazon that are really

valuable on the
international market.

Things like mahogany.

The loggers will go in,
they'll cut down those
valuable trees and

then they will just
chop down all the rest,
and then burn them.

Then, when the land is
cleared from the fires,

that can serve as
cattle pastures.

MARIANA: Shockingly, an
estimated 50% of logging
in Brazil is ill*gal.

And the United States is one of
the biggest importers of
trafficked wood from the Amazon.

MARIANA: The high stakes have
made the jungle a violent place.

MARIANA: On the edge of the
Amazon's protected areas,

lies a small settlement.

MARIANA: I've traveled here
to understand what can happen

to you when you go up
against the Amazon mafia.

MARIANA: Osvalinda and
Daniel Pereira run a small

organic farm surrounded by
old‐growth timber.

MARIANA: Nearly all the forests
adjoining their property

have been cut down
in recent years.

MARIANA: The Pereiras have
managed to protect and

plant new trees on
their farm and they've

reported ill*gal activity
to the authorities,

which has made them a
target of local criminals.

MARIANA: One day, after
returning to their house,

the couple found a local
logging boss waiting for them,

accompanied by
a squad of armed men.

DOROTHY: Brazil has about 30%
of the world's biodiversity.

And so, can you imagine
when somebody chops down

a tremendous area that
burns for ten days?

MARIANA: Dorothy Stang was
an American nun who
campaigned for 30 years

to stop ill*gal
loggers in the Amazon.

In 2005, while walking
in the jungle,

she was m*rder*d with six
shots fired at close range.

Stang's m*rder is far
from an isolated incident.

More than 1,700 people
have been k*lled in land
conflicts since 2000.

And in this part
of the world,

where impunity reigns,

only 10% of the murders
were brought to justice.

Following the threats from
the local logging boss,

the Pereiras awoke one
morning to find that

someone had crept
onto their farm.

MARIANA: Leaving a
terrifying warning.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: The Pereiras continue
to receive death threats,

but they refuse to let the
criminals have their way.

(chanting in native language).

MARIANA: My source
says the situation
got even more dire after

the 2018 election
of Brazil's president,
Jair Bolsonaro.

(speaking in native language).

INTERPRETER: It is a
fallacy that the Amazon is
a heritage of humanity and

it is also a mistake to say
it is the lungs of the world.

Certain countries are
using these fallacies,
and instead of helping,

have started to
attack with lies.

MOIRA: When Jair Bolsonaro
was elected, a lot changed.

Deforestation skyrocketed.

There's been a
massive rollback in respect
for indigenous rights.

And Bolsonaro has regularly,
in public, encouraged
Amazon deforestation.

He's encouraged the arsonists
lighting a lot of the fires.

And he's defamed a lot of
the indigenous leaders.

When the head of state
is encouraging violence,

that sends a
very clear message.

MARIANA: According to observers,

his administration has
effectively given a green light

to those who want to destroy
the Amazon for profit,

which critics say
includes the most
powerful man in Itaituba.

At his riverside mansion,

I arrange a meeting
with the town's mayor,
Valmir Climaco.

MARIANA: He is not shy about
his past as a logger and miner.

According to Climaco's
own election filings,

he's the subject of 45
federal criminal citations.

But his trouble with the law
hasn't hurt his popularity.

MARIANA: Mayor Climaco now
owns cattle ranches and farms
cleared from the rainforest,

industries responsible
for millions of acres
of deforestation.

MARIANA: Climaco was
acquitted of some charges,

though he still faces
pending trials for alleged

environmental crimes
dating back to 2012.

However, Climaco doesn't
think mining and logging are
hurting the Amazon either way.

MARIANA: In the Amazon,
this is all a seductive
argument for those who

stand to make huge profits.

But it doesn't mesh
with the reality I've
seen in my time here.

MARIANA: Rather than debating
the mayor on the merits of
inhaling mercury fumes,

I want to ask
him about the slew of
killings in the region,

including Dorothy Stang,
the American nun.

MARIANA: With the
help of the FBI,

Brazilian authorities
eventually convicted two

ranchers of orchestrating
Dorothy Stang's m*rder.

MARIANA: Climaco's own
property lies alongside the
ancestral territory of

the Munduruku indigenous tribe.

For Climaco, letting them
manage the land would
be the real travesty.

MARIANA: Despite what
Mayor Climaco says,

Brazil's indigenous
people are now some

of the most courageous
defenders of the Amazon.

Still, on the search
for ill*gal loggers,

I'm going on patrol
with members of the
Munduruku indigenous tribe.

We've been going in
further and further in
for over an hour now.

They're actually looking
for signs that there's been
ill*gal activity in this area.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: I'm on patrol
with the Munduruku tribe,

trying to catch ill*gal
loggers in the act.

All these cut branches that
you see are clear signs that

there's been some sort
of ill*gal activity.

Usually, it's ill*gal
loggers that come here and
start cutting the branches

so they can go through
deeper into the jungle.

Look.

(speaking in native language).

This is all evidence that the
ill*gal loggers have been here.

You can see a whole
structure over there.

This camp has been set
up in the short time since the
Munduruku last went on patrol.

MARIANA: Chief Juarez plans
to confront the loggers and

force them out of
Munduruku territory.

MARIANA: It's a
b*llet case, .38 cal.

MARIANA: Brazil's indigenous
people have increasingly
come under violent attack.

MARIANA: Even with the
chance of an armed encounter,

Chief Juarez says it's
time to move forward.

They've heard that there's
people actually cutting down
trees about an hour from here,

so he says
we should keep going.

We'll try to go
as far as we can.

As we proceed deeper and
deeper into the rainforest,

it's hard not to
feel completely exposed.

Criminals could be behind
any bend of the river.

After another
hour on the water,

the chief stops our boat.

The loggers have
clearly been here.

MARIANA: They come in
with chainsaws to look
for trees like this.

And they left it
behind because

they realized it was actually
going to fall into the river.

MARIANA: Even with fresh
evidence of their work,

the chief says the
criminals have slipped away.

But two days later,
I get a new lead.

MARIANA: After dozens of calls,

I finally receive a promising
message from a local contact
and a former ill*gal logger.

MARIANA: It's the access I've
been working on for months.

But it's in an area
with one of Brazil's
highest m*rder rates.

I'll be miles and
miles from help if
anything goes wrong.

And as I head out to an
undisclosed location,

I have no idea about what,
or who, I might find.

Okay. This is it.

Okay. Come on, guys.

Let's do it.

The boss meets me at the
access road and says we need
to hurry onto the truck

so we're not spotted.

Okay, so we go on
the back of the truck.

It's not an accident that
this is a bumpy ride.

Loggers cut narrow roads,

hidden under
the forest canopy to throw
off aerial surveillance.

Whoa, whoa.

Watch out, watch out,
watch out, watch out.

So we just got stuck.

The big truck got stuck.

I have no idea how they're
going to take it out of here.

The truck isn't
going anywhere.

And on top of that,
we're suddenly alone.

The guy who's taking
us in just left.

So we're stuck here.

It's super muddy
and wet everywhere.

Stranded in the middle
of the jungle with potentially
violent criminals operating

in the area and there is
nothing to do but wait.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: So we're stuck here,

just us and a big
ill*gal logging truck.

After 30 minutes,

our contact returns
and he's got some heavy
equipment with him.

The rainy season is normally
a quiet time of the year for
the ill*gal timber trade,

because of the difficulty
reaching the jungle.

But these loggers seem to be
working harder than ever.

But I mean,
it's incredible.

It's just in the
middle of this thick,
thick piece of jungle.

And there's just
this clearing.

And this is what
they've done.

They've just cleared
this all out.

The loggers tell me
that just yesterday,

a member of another crew
was k*lled during the part

of the process
I'm watching now.

They're saying it's incredibly
dangerous to be behind,

uh, where the
log is going up because

it's common that
the cables will break
and will fall off.

So a lot of people have
been injured and k*lled
when this happens.

They're just, these, like,

two cables that are pulling
the log up to the truck.

This is all super sketchy.

I mean, they're barefoot!

You know, they're doing
all of this, a lot
of them are barefoot.

It may not be
a high‐tech operation,

but they work fast,
and efficiently.

So they've done all of this
damage that you see here,

all this clearing,
in just the last two weeks.

MARIANA: Loggers usually take
pains to avoid being caught.

IBAMA raids mean crippling
fines and destroyed equipment.

But insiders say the ill*gal
timber trade is operating more
openly than in years past.

They say they're going to cut
down another tree right now.

The men tell me
how they clear the most
valuable trees first

and are quick to spot
which ones to cut next.

Yeah, so they're saying
that they think it's
going to fall that way.

When it does, when it cracks,
that a lot of sort of debris...

(thud)

Oh, my God.

Did you hear that?
Did you hear that?

So that's it, when you
hear that first crack,

that means
the tree is falling.

It's slowly falling.

And then you just...

MARIANA: Watch out. Watch out.

MARIANA: Wow. I mean,
it's insane.

You can feel the,
you can hear the cracks
incredibly loud.

And then you can
feel the whole sort
of, uh, ground shake.

Knowing that these
trees could soon end up in
a wood floor or backyard

deck somewhere in the U. S.,
it's hard to stomach.

MARIANA: Okay.
Let's go see that.

He's saying we
can go and see it.

The fallen tree.

Wow. Wow.

MARIANA: It's not
even worth anything,

which makes this whole
thing even more depressing.

I mean, all of this
wasted for nothing.

Seeing this pointless
destruction reminds me of what
I witnessed at the gold mine.

The Amazon is being ravaged
based on false hopes
by those in the trenches.

MARIANA: If there is one thing
I've learned from reporting on
the world's black markets,

it's that the people
who are getting their
hands dirty often feel

like they have
no other choice.

Criminals on the bottom rung
of the shadow economy say they
are simply trying to survive.

MARIANA: Holding those
accountable for the murders
in the Amazon is seemingly

an impossible task.

It's no surprise that so
many of those killings
have gone unpunished.

I may never come face to
face with those at the top,

but I have one last way
to expose the Amazon mafia.

I'm going to
follow the timber.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: Under the
cover of night,

the logs I saw being cut
down in the Amazon earlier,

are transported here to
this ill*gal sawmill.

I still want to understand what
happens to timber illegally
harvested in the Amazon.

And if this wood
will soon end up in the
hands of U. S. consumers.

(speaking foreign language).

But nobody at
the mill wants to talk.

MARIANA: Si.

MARIANA: Suddenly,
I'm told it's time
for us to stop filming.

A shipment of cut boards is
heading out and we've been
explicitly warned not to follow.

It's frustrating to
leave without tracking
this wood any farther.

But I already know where
a lot of it is headed.

♪ ♪

JACOB: Sometimes it's
a bit of a reveal.

When you look
at a shipment like this,
and you open it up,

it takes your breath
away for a second.

To be like, "Wow, that's
not what I was expecting."

And you realize how
big some of the wood is.

You do step back and you
put that in perspective,

how old was that tree?

MARIANA: At a warehouse
near the port of Houston,

agents from U. S. Customs
and Border Protection
are inspecting

a new shipment
from Latin America.

JACOB: Some of the wood
today is raising red flags.

When we look at the documents,

the wood states
that it's a certain age.

When we come here and
physically look at the wood,

it looks much older than
what's on the documents.

Therefore, it probably
didn't come from the mill
that's on the paperwork

and then we're going to
look further into that wood.

MARIANA: As one
of the largest timber
importers in the world,

the U. S. is a prime target for
black market organizations.

But smuggling trees from
the Amazon is a federal crime,

in violation
of the Lacey Act.

JACOB: We attempt to catch
everything that comes our way.

Due to the pure volume
of stuff like that,

most likely stuff
does make it through.

But our attempt
is to catch everything
entering this country.

MARIANA: One estimate now puts
the worldwide trade for ill*gal
timber as high as $152 billion.

JACOB: We are seeing
a larger increase
in shipments coming out

of the Amazon
than previous years.

So the problem
isn't going away,

it's only increasing.

MOIRA: There's so
much responsibility that
we have to address our own

contributions
to the climate crisis.

So many of the companies that
are based here are buying
and selling the very products

that are produced
in deforested parts
of the rainforest.

It comes down to how important
is it and how important are we
insisting that it be?

I think it makes sense to
think about the Amazon as
a canary in the coal mine

in the sense that if
we can't save it,
we're doomed.

MARIANA: All
these little red dots,
that are a lot of them,

all represent deforestation
that has happened in
just the last five years?

CARLOS: Exactly.

MARIANA: So the death of
the Amazon as we know it?

MARIANA: Carlos Souza is a
researcher for an environmental
nonprofit called Imazon.

Through satellite technology,

they are able to monitor
deforestation on a micro level,

including the ill*gal logging
site I witnessed myself.

It's crazy to think
that it looked so
massive at the time and

now to think that it's just
probably just a little tiny,
tiny, tiny little dot.

MARIANA: Stop it.
CARLOS: To stop it.

MARIANA: The data is alarming.

Dr. Souza says it
should be a wake‐up call
for the entire world.

So, does that mean
that this is it?

We're, it's
completely hopeless.

There's nothing we
can do about it?

CARLOS: There is hope.

MARIANA: Uh‐hmm.

The good news is that
it's not too late.

And there are still those
on the ground fighting
against deforestation.

Looking at the
Amazon from high above,

it's striking that there are
these islands of intact forest.

When you get closer,

you notice that many of those
areas are indigenous lands.

Before leaving the Amazon,

I return to one
of those islands,

the Munduruku territory.

I reunite with tribal
leader and activist,

Alessandra Munduruku.

Tonight, the village is
having a meeting to discuss
how they can fight back

against a new bill
proposed by the
Bolsonaro government.

MARIANA: The bill would open
up mining in protected areas,
like the Munduruku territory.

MARIANA: The Amazon's
hundreds of indigenous tribes
have survived conquest,

smallpox, enslavement,
and assimilation.

And the future of our planet
might depend on them standing
in the way of the Amazon mafia.

MARIANA: But for the Munduruku,

stopping powerful
criminal networks alone
is too much to ask.

Foreign governments will
have to supply pressure.

And consumers will have
to investigate where the
products they buy come from.

And if we are helping
to protect the
Amazon or destroy it.