La présidence de Jair Bolsonaro : une opportunité politique pour intensifier l’extraction minière dans le Minas Gerais

Abstract

Based on ethnographic research conducted between 2019 and 2022, the article shows how the political system established by the government of Jair Bolsonaro has contributed to accelerating mining extraction and intensifying the grip of the sector. The intensification of extractivism in Brazil since 2019 is evident in a few emblematic cases of building new mines or expanding existing mines in Minas Gerais, a region particularly rich in minerals. To obtain environmental licenses, companies have developed various strategies to get the projects accepted by political leaders, local populations, and public actors. This article aims to analyze the plurality of entrepreneurial modes of action to accelerate mining exploitation under the favorable administration of a pro-mining government, whether through lobbying, repression, and threat, or the opportunistic use of a political system that is conciliatory towards market interests.

Keywords

• repression
• extractivism
• mining industry
• environmental policies
• Bolsonaro