To : President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

To : Minister of Integration – Geddel Vieira Filho

After two years of frustrated attempts to establish a dialogue between social movements and the Brazilian government to democratically discuss the controversial São Francisco River diversion project, Catholic Church’s Bishop Luiz Cappio resumed his hunger strike on November 27th, 2007. In an open letter to Lula he declares his opposition to the mega-project and his worries regarding the river’s degradation.

In his sermon, held in the Saint Francis chapel of Sobradinho in Bahia State, Bishop Cappio stressed the urgent problem of the river’s water capacity. Currently, the large Sobradinho reservoir’s volume holds only 14% of its storage capacity. Acording to the bishop, this fact reveals that the river diversion and further interference would have fatal impacts for the health and integrity of the São Francisco River environment.

Bishop Cappio declares in his letter that he will only stop his fasting if two conditions are met : the Brazilian army’s withdrawal from the project’s construction site, the army is in charge of the construction works for both sites (north and east canals) ; and the final suspension of the São Francisco River diversion project.

The undersigned people and organizations claim that this outcry in defense of the São Francisco River will be heard and the construction works will be immediately stopped.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned