Political and social impact
The Prelature of Labrea (Amazonas, Brazil) was born in the interwar period, with Brazil governed by an oligarchy and in a context of systematic exploitation of the rainforest and its people. The “aviamento” was a system of credit and supplies whereby the rubber plantation owner or a merchant advanced the rubber tapper what he needed to live and work: food, tools, clothing, medicine, and so on.
In exchange, the worker exclusively delivered his production to the supplier, who deducted the previously incurred debt from the payment. Supply prices were inflated, and the price of rubber was set by the employer. The debt rarely disappeared, and the worker lived in permanent dependence, very close to servitude, because of his debts.
In 1930, Getúlio Vargas ended the Old Republic and promoted the centralization of the state, industrialization, and extensive labor legislation. After promulgating the Constitution in 1934 and being elected president, in 1937 Getúlio staged a coup, suppressed political parties, censored the press, and concentrated power in the executive branch.
During World War II, Brazil shifted from neutrality to supporting the Allies. This brought a new influx of rubber workers to the Amazon. Japan had seized the British-owned industrialized plantations of Hevea brasiliensis in Southeast Asia, established in the early 20th century with seedlings stolen from Brazil, which devastated the Amazonian economy by making the rainforest’s natural rubber unprofitable.
The Allies’ need for rubber sparked this second rubber boom. It brought almost no profit, but it did awaken all the ghosts of the quasi-feudal system of the aviamento, uncontrolled migrations, and exploitative relationships.
Getúlio Vargas was deposed, and in October 1945 the Estado Novo (New State) began, marked by alternating democratic governments, until the highly repressive military regime took power from 1964 to 1985. The Catholic Church was one of the institutions that fought hardest for democracy. In 1983, the Prelature’s Assembly decided to prioritize popular movements and promote associations of laundresses, teachers’ and rural workers’ unions, human rights groups, and other organizations.
Democracy was restored in 1985, and the current Constitution was approved in 1988. With the economy in an expansionary cycle, mining, hydrocarbon exploitation, and agribusiness grew, all of which had a significant impact on the Amazon. This region experienced these phases with an absence of public administration, systematic resource exploitation, and a municipal political system dominated by an oligarchy that used the system for its own benefit.
Today Brazil lives in a situation of extreme polarization and the Amazon remains a lawless land in many respects: deregulation of land ownership and attacks on protected lands; lack of border control; trafficking of illegal goods; theft of public lands; illegal exploitation of gold, fishing, timber, and forest fruits…
The climate emergency is plaguing the Amazon: maximum temperatures are higher, there are record droughts that make navigation impossible and, therefore, access to consumer goods, while there is a huge fish kill.
Corruption is chronic at all levels of government and oversight bodies. Society is entrenched in patronage, and public sector jobs, almost the only decent means of living, are yet another form of control. There are no public policies in education or healthcare, access to clean water and basic sanitation, urban planning, labor inspections, or services for children and women.
Pope Francis placed the Amazon at the center of ecclesial reflection with a Synod, and Dioceses and Prelatures of the region articulated themselves in a supranational character in the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM), which opens its local nucleus in Labrea in 2023.
It was simply the updating and globalization of a centuries-old task in Labrea: supporting the most vulnerable population by demanding accountability from the authorities and empowering the people to defend their own voice. The Base Communities were born to “unite faith and life,” that is, so that the celebration of the Word would lead everyone toward mutual support, solidarity, and the pursuit of dignity for all.
The missionaries have also adapted to the times. Since Vatican II, they have participated in training programs, meetings, and assemblies to better serve riverine and indigenous communities. They have learned to promote democratic oversight bodies, to understand the legal tools of the 1988 Constitution for the protection of the vulnerable, to safeguard public employees from patronage practices, and to demand professional and non-violent conduct from law enforcement.
They also learned how to organize unions, how to denounce land theft while overcoming the difficulties of a corrupt administration, and they kept up to date on associationalism, development projects, and the definitive break in aviamento commitments.
In turn, they trained pastoral agents in social doctrine and received many threats; in addition to the murder of the Augustinian Recollect missionary Cleusa, the friars faced accusations, threats and even suffered violent attacks.
In the Church’s most costly social projects, missionaries sought the participation and commitment of municipal, state, and federal public authorities from the outset. They took advantage of existing laws to seek collaboration, whether in funding or in completing the professional staffing levels.
The Prelature and the Parishes participated directly in several public information processes, in public policy councils, in the creation of child protection bodies, in the permanent presence of judges and prosecutors in the Prelature or in various public hearings that have taken place in the four municipalities.
