![\"Arlindo](\"http:\/\/eco123.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/06_tejo-300x300.jpg\")
Arlindo Consolado Marques<\/strong>, Fifty-two-year-old Arlindo Consolado Marques was born in Ortiga, a little place beside the river Tejo in the municipality of Ma\u00e7\u00e3o. He says he was born in the river. He played in the river. And he grew up with the river. His grandfather had a wooden boat called Piquareto, in which he used a short rod to catch fish from the river. Nowadays, Piquareto is no longer on the river, nor are there many fish. Arlindo has three children and he\u2019s a prison warder in Torres Novas. In the past few months, he has become known as the \u201cGuardian of the Tejo\u201d thanks to his work as an environmental activist and his key role in the citizen\u2019s movement for the protection of the Tejo, proTEJO. Together with proTEJO, he started a crowdfunding campaign to be able to pay his legal costs in the case against Celtejo, one of the companies producing bleached paper pulp in Vila Velha de Rod\u00e3o, which is suing him for defamation and demanding damages of \u20ac250,000.<\/p>\nYou are a prison warder. And you are the guardian of the Tejo. At the prison, you guard the prisoners. What are you guarding in the river Tejo? In this case, everything. I am protecting it against those who try to destroy it. Those who try to kill it and mainly its waters. Its waters used to be crystal clear and there were fish diving. And suddenly everything disappeared. But your role as the \u201cGuardian of the Tejo\u201d is essential in this narrative, isn\u2019t it? And did you succeed? What made you certain that Celtejo was the company responsible for the pollution and for the slaughter of the fish? Celtejo is now suing you for defamation and demanding 250,000 euros\u2026 What would have to happen in politics for the situation to improve? And what can private individuals do? What should people from the city know about pollution?<\/strong> Thank you.<\/p>\n A campanha do Crowdfunding PPL j\u00e1 terminou e foi um grande sucesso com a angaria\u00e7\u00e3o de 22.032\u20ac<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is little in life that is black and white. However, the present-day river Tejo (the Tagus in English) is just that. It’s black on one side and white on the other. Transparent water alongside dirty water. This separation of the waters in the middle of the river is not due to force majeure in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[277,158],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-highlight","category-interviews-en","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n
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\nHence my revolt. I have tried to save this river. But this wasn\u2019t my struggle alone. It was done by the people who followed me on Facebook, the people who supported me, municipal councils, institutions, it was they who gave me the strength to continue.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I know that not everyone has the opportunity to be close to the river. I can be, thanks to my profession. I work for 24 hours and then have two days’ rest. But I have to tell you, I would often get home at night go to bed and then the telephone would ring. It would be a fisherman: \u201cArlindo, this is really terrible. Arlindo, there are dead fish.\u201d Resting mattered little to me. I would cover 70 kilometres, often exceeding the speed limit. Why? To prevent the evidence from vanishing.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The slaughter of fish we found, I and my friend Francisco S\u00e3o Pedro, my right hand in all of this, a fisherman who has never abandoned me, was incredible\u2026 He would say \u201cArlindo, this is the end of the river. We have thousands of dead fish.\u201d I arrived before the Inspectorate-General of Agriculture, the Sea, the Environment and Spatial Planning (IGAMAOT), before the Municipal Secretariat for Environmental Protection (SEMPMA), before all those people from the Environment. And I was able to show people, in various videos, thousands of dead fish. It wasn\u2019t a river anymore, it was a river of dead fish. There were big fish\u2026 pike, perch, bass, carp, all dead… Because I got to the site so promptly, I prevented them hiding the proof, as had happened once before. And once I was at the site, with the evidence in my hand, they could take all the fish away\u2026<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I was certain because Francisco spends every day in Vila Velha de Rod\u00e3o; he fishes upstream from Vila Velha because the waters there are transparent. When he and his colleagues passed right there in the middle of the river, they noticed that the water changed colour there. It was the colour of red wine, brown, the colour of white coffee. And they knew that, upstream, nothing like that had happened. So, the source of the pollution was there. Sometimes more, at other times less. This pollution came out of Celtejo\u2019s pipes. They were pipes a metre and a half in diameter. And the water from Spain, when the river is flowing, pushed us downstream, passing the Fratel Dam, the Belver Dam and the controversial Abrantes weir. And from there it went to the sea. That\u2019s why I wanted to go there to film.<\/p>\n![\"celtejo\"](\"http:\/\/eco123.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/03_tejo.jpg\")
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\n<\/strong>Isto \u00e9 mais grave do que se pensa, ando aqui a lidar com o diabo. J\u00e1 me preocupei muito, mas agora penso: a verdade est\u00e1 do nosso lado! Est\u00e1 do lado das pessoas! Eu hei-de me defender. Tenho um p\u00e9-de-meia, algum dinheiro para emerg\u00eancias. E vou gast\u00e1-lo todo, mas n\u00e3o faz mal. N\u00e3o quero saber disso para nada. Nunca tive nada. Se conseguirmos p\u00f4r o rio a correr de forma normal, n\u00e3o quero saber do dinheiro. Dinheiro n\u00e3o vale nada. A vida, sim, os p\u00e1ssaros sim. O que vale \u00e9 eu estar l\u00e1 no ver\u00e3o e mandar-me para dentro da \u00e1gua e n\u00e3o ter medo. Os mi\u00fados a perguntarem-me: \u2018Arlindo, posso tomar banho?\u2019 E eu a dizer: \u2018v\u00e3o l\u00e1 a vontade\u2019. Agora n\u00e3o posso dizer-lhes isso!<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>This is more serious than might be thought, I am fighting the devil here. I have been very worried, but now I think: the truth is on our side! It\u2019s on the side of people! I\u2019ve got to defend myself. I have a nest egg, some money for emergencies. And I\u2019ll spend it all, but it doesn\u2019t matter. I don\u2019t care about it. I never had anything. If we make the river flow normally, I couldn\u2019t care less about the money. Money isn\u2019t worth anything. Life is, the birds are. What matters is that I can be there in the summer and jump into the water and not be afraid. The children asking me: \u201cArlindo, can I have a swim?\u201d And me saying: \u201cFeel free\u201d. I can\u2019t say that to them at the moment!<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>People who love the river have to lose their fear, they have to report things. Ring the Environment line, which is available 24 hours a day. If you witness a source of pollution, be it from Celtejo or from a truck, you have to call. People have to understand that they are looking at the future of their children, of their grandchildren. If they can\u2019t report something, they can call me and proTejo will deal with it.<\/p>\n
\nBecause it is there that this water is consumed too. The problem doesn\u2019t remain out here in the country\u2026
\nNowadays we are all rushing about, on buses, on the metro. But there is something we must never forget: all the products that we buy in hypermarkets, in markets\u2026 if they\u2019re not inspected, they\u2019re harmful to people\u2019s health. For example, take the case of cellulose\u2026 You just need to go on the internet and write \u201ccellulose factories dioxins\u201d. Dioxins from a factory working legally enter the food chain. People are sometimes not interested. They get there and shop and are not interested in much else. But it would be good to keep your eyes wide open because it\u2019s your health that\u2019s at stake. It is proven that the fields in the area of Almeirim, Alpiar\u00e7a, the cultivation of strawberries, onions, potatoes\u2026 they are irrigated with water from the river Tejo. The river is being killed, people are being killed.<\/p>\n
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