Why is a convicted Brazilian miner welcomed in Guyana?

Dear Editor,

The photographs circulating on social media of Rodrigo Martins de Mello—better known in Brazil as “Rodrigo Cataratas”—inside the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Office of the Prime Minister should send a shiver down the spine of every law-abiding Guyanese citizen.

While our government speaks globally about the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and the rule of law, the red carpet in Georgetown appears to have been rolled out for a man whom the Brazilian Federal Courts just sentenced, in February 2026, to over 22 years in prison.

This is not a matter of “allegations” or “wrong paperwork.” A federal judge in Brazil has found Mello guilty of leading a criminal organization, money laundering, and environmental devastation. He was the architect of a massive illegal mining network that used a private fleet of 23 aircraft to invade the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, leaving behind a trail of mercury poisoning and death. He owes over US$6 million in damages to the people he displaced.

And yet, here in Guyana, he is not a fugitive; he is a “businessman.”

How does a man with such a profile waltz into meetings with Minister Vickram Bharrat and Prime Minister Mark Phillips? How does a convicted leader of a “mining death squad” announce a US$10 million project in our territory while his own country’s federal police are looking for him?

The optics are devastating. If a man convicted of destroying the Amazon can find safe harbor and a “seat at the table” in Georgetown, then our due diligence system isn’t just broken—it’s non-existent. Furthermore, the presence of blacklisted contractors alongside these officials suggests a pattern where political proximity overrides international sanctions and criminal records.

The Guyanese public deserves to know:

1. What background checks are conducted before “investors” are granted audience with the nation’s top brass?
2. Was the Ministry aware of Mello’s five pending federal criminal cases in Brazil at the time of these meetings?
3. What is the nature of the relationship between these individuals and the governing party, given reports of their presence on the campaign trail?

We are being told Guyana is open for business. The question is: what kind of business? If the price of “development” is the protection of international fugitives and the endorsement of environmental criminals, then we are trading our national soul for fool’s gold.