Day 251 - 17 May 96 - Page 12

     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Start from the paragraph above that, "Another
     3        region", but then you need not ask any questions about that
     4        paragraph.
     5
     6   MR. MORRIS:  "Another region that was being devastated at the
     7        time lay to the north of Cuiaba, the capital of Mato
     8        Grosso.  After the construction of the BR-163 (the highway
     9        linking Santarem, a port on the Amazon river, with Cuiaba)
    10        in the early 1970s, numerous new ranches were opened beside
    11        this road.  The incentives were tax breaks from the federal
    12        government and the new transport link that meant that the
    13        ranches could now take their cattle to meat packing plants
    14        in Cuiaba.
    15
    16        "Several multinational companies, such as Volkswagen, owned
    17        their own ranches and were directly responsible for forest
    18        devastation.  This was not the case with McDonald's which
    19        never owned its own ranches.  However, this does not seem
    20        to me to exonerate McDonald's from all involvement in the
         harmful consequences of the ranch industry.
    22
    23        "Mr. Jose Roberto Morganti, the General Manager of Braslo
    24        Produtos de Carne, says in his statement (paragraph 5) that
    25        Braslo has been -- and still is -- supplied beef by Bordon
    26        at Campo Grande.  As I stated earlier, I know through
    27        personal experience that Bordon both cleared tropical
    28        forest and was involved in land conflicts in Acre.  Cattle
    29        have on occasions been brought down by truck from Acre to
    30        fatten near Campo Grande.  It seems to me possible, perhaps
    31        even likely, that beef supplied by Bordon to Braslo came on
    32        some occasions from Acre".
    33
    34        When you say, "cattle have on occasions been brought down
    35        by truck from Acre", have you seen that process?
    36        A.  Yes, I have seen that.  I have seen trucks coming down
    37        on that road.  You frequently see them with "Bordon"
    38        written on the side of the trucks coming down south from
    39        Acre; and it is general knowledge that they are going to
    40        Campo Grande which is the slaughter house, the nearest
         slaughter house, that Bordon have in the region.
    42
    43        I mean, what I do not know is exactly the proportion of the
    44        cattle that are slaughtered in Campo Grande which comes
    45        from Acre.  I just know from personal experience that
    46        cattle do come down from Acre because I have seen the
    47        trucks.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The trucks with live cattle in them?
    50        A.  The trucks with live cattle on and with the "Bordon" 
    51        company name written on the side of the truck. 
    52 
    53   MR. MORRIS:  Sorry, continuing to read:  "Mr. Morganti says in
    54        his statement (paragraph 6) that in the early period of
    55        McDonald's operation, from 1979 to 1982, the meat-packing
    56        company Sadia (for which Mr. Morganti was then working) was
    57        supplying beef to McDonald's and that some of the beef was
    58        coming from Cuiaba.  He does not supply the names of the
    59        ranches that were supplying Sadia with cattle in Cuiaba,
    60        but, given the scale of the tropical forest devastation