Lalo de Almeida Documents the Exploitation of the Amazon
“One of the most fascinating figures I encountered in the Amazon was Mr. Benedito Balão, a man who lived on the banks of the Xingu River,” the photojournalist Lalo de Almeida tells me. By the time they met, the older man was already in his seventies. Construction had just begun on the Belo Monte Dam, a hydroelectric mega-project in the Amazon basin that would result in the displacement of tens of thousands of people. When de Almeida first introduced himself, Mr. Balão was actively protesting the building of the complex.