50 YEARS OF THE ITAIPU TREATY: REFLECTION ON THE RESISTANCE PROCESS ON THE PART OF THE AFFECTED PEOPLE BY ITAIPU HYDROELECTRIC POWER STATION, IN WESTERN PARANÁ

reflexão sobre o processo de resistência por parte dos atingidos pela usina hidrelétrica de Itaipu no oeste paranaense

Abstract

In 2023, a cycle of 50 years was completed since the signature of the Itaipu Treaty by the governments of Brazil and Paraguay. This timeframe appears to be very appropriate for a reflection on the gradient of the consequences of the implementation of Itaipu Binational Hydroelectric Power Station over the lives of thousands of people, in special at the moment of its installation, considering the context of contradictions in Brazilian capitalism. The process of expropriation of approximately 40 thousand people, residents in the Brazilian side, because of the formation of the Itaipu reservoir, was marked by the reaction of portion of those expropriated, at the turn of the 1970’s to the 1980’s, supported by the Comissão Pastoral da Terra (Earth Pastoral Comission - CPT). Our aim in this article is to analyze the conflictive process of the Itaipu Power Station implementation in Western Paraná and the progressive awareness, on the part of the affected people, on the need of resistance in the face of the actions taken by the Brazilian State representants, in order to guarantee the installation of the hydroelectric megaproject of Itaipu Binational. It is a bibliographical research and a documental survey on the issue, guided by the consulting of a set of documents, such as published interviews, academical studies and further bibliographies on the matter.