"Auri sacra fames": as conexões entre o garimpo (i)legal e o narcotráfico na Amazônia brasileira durante o governo Jair Bolsonaro (2018-2022)

Abstract

This paper aims to demonstrate, based on a case study, how the government of Jair Bolsonaro has become a window of opportunity for the expansion of criminal activities in the Amazon region, especially regarding the practice called “narcogarimpo”. In this sense, the role of the Amazon region in the logistical organization of illegal networks and how organized crime articulates itself within this context is highlighted. With this, with the acquiescence of the Bolsonaro government, the criminal factions linked to international drug trafficking began to incorporate other criminal activities in the territory, among them the (i)legal gold mining. Furthermore, it is possible to observe how the Bolsonaro government has perpetuated extractive policies traditionally incorporated by military governments in Brazil. Finally, we can see how neoextractivism is an economic development model with socio-political and territorial impacts, where the expansion of these frontiers has increasingly threatened the territorial integrity of indigenous communities and all forest peoples, whether through legal or illegal practices