Dom Eliseu
Dom Eliseu is a municipality in the state of Pará in the Northern region of Brazil. At an altitude of 180 meters, its estimated population in 2021 is around 61,206. Because of its status as a trading post and sales from wood, seeds, straw, guava and other factors, Dom Eliseu has a dynamic commercial and service sector. It is one of the busiest municipalities in the southeast region of Pará. It is the second populous municipality in the Microregion of Paragominas, behind only Paragominas. Its HDI is around 0.615, which is medium.
History
The occupation of the territorial area of Dom Eliseu began in the 1960s. During this period, the first major integration highway of the region was opened, the BR-010, during the administration of the former Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek. Immediately after the inauguration of this highway, the governor of Pará, Alacid da Silva Nunes, determined the construction of an integration highway between the Northeast of Pará and the Southeast of Pará, PA-70.Early Growth of Dom Eliseu
The first person in the municipality, Leopoldo Cunha established a warehouse in the area. He is one of the workers at Delta Engenharia, the construction company responsible for the PA-70 highway. Despite the completion of the highway, Cunha stayed at the junction of highways BR-010 and PA-70. After a few months, his family moved to his warehouse. With his "business instincts", Cunha opens a restaurant at the junction. His restaurant became the first establishment and attraction of Dom Eliseu.With pressure from the Military Government, families from Piauí, Maranhão, Bahia, Goiás and Minas Gerais moved to the village, and thus counted as the first settlers. The Brazilian Government encouraged the agricultural formation of the locality, giving land titles to these families.
The village that was formed at the junction was originally called km 0, because it is in the exact km 0 of the PA-70. Due to a plane crash that killed the then President of the Senate Filinto Müller. In the 1970s, the people decide to rename the village in honor of the politician. The village was renamed Filinto Müller.
With a large plant deposit, the Amazon Rainforest, the region began to experience the timber cycle from 1970 onwards. They settled in the village of Filinto Müller, the first logging mill was established in the village. The establishment of this type was Serraria Alves Marques Ltda. Logging in the area inflates, and soon several other activities flourished in the locality, especially trade.
On September 14, 1983, Filinto Müller was elevated to the category of district of the municipality of Paragominas. At the suggestion of federal deputy Fausto Fernandes, the village was again renamed, giving it the name of Dom Eliseu, in honor of the bishop Dom Eliseu Corolli, from the Diocese of Bragança.
Fight for emancipation
In the mid-1980s, the Associação de Desenvolvimento Comunitário de Dom Eliseu was created in the municipality. This association led the process of discussions and proposals that culminated in the political emancipation of Dom Eliseu. This association managed to pressure the city council of Paragominas to approve the proposal for independence. The emancipatory process was carried out in the Legislative Assembly of Pará by the deputies Maria Nazaré Barbosa and Nicias Ribeiro.With the approval of the plebiscite by the state legislature, its realization was determined. Once the plebiscite was held, it was found that there was approximately 70% approval for emancipation. Given the favorable result, municipal emancipation was approved on May 1, 1988, through state law No. 5,450.Tribunal Regional Eleitoral do Pará e Amapá. Relação de vereadores eleitos no estado do Pará em 15 de novembro de 1988. Belém, s/d
On January 1, 1989, the municipal executive power was installed, with the mayor Antônio Jesus de Oliveira and the vice-mayor Antônio Dionísio Lima at the head. Both had been elected in the first municipal election, on November 15, 1988, with 65% of the valid votes. On the same occasion, the nine representatives of the municipal legislative power were elected.
Plebiscite on Carajás
In the 1990s, after municipal emancipation, Dom Eliseu joined the Association of Municipalities of Araguaia and Tocantins and joined the movement for the emancipation of Southern Pará via the CMPC, which had as President the then councilman Eldo José Ribeiro, to create the state of Carajás. In 2011, more than 90% of the population of the municipality voted in favor of the emancipation of Carajás in the plebiscite on the division of the state of Pará. However, 66.40% of the population of Pará is against it, Dom Eliseu is one of 39 municipalities that voted in favor2000s
In the mid 2000s, TV Atlântico was inaugurated as Dom Eliseu's first television station.In 2004, former/current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva under his administration initiated the Plano de Açao para Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia Legal to prevent the endangerment of the Amazonian rainforest. The plan brought together 13 government ministries, federal police, and the military to coordinate forest preservation and straighten enforcement actions in the Amazonian region. Although it help protects the rainforest, Dom Eliseu's deforestation rate is still high. By 2008, the municipality's forest cover went from 46% in 2003 to 37% in 2008.
In January 2008, the Ministry of Environment added Dom Eliseu on a list of 36 municipalities that contributed to more than 50% of the combined destruction of the Amazon rainforest. To avoid getting sanctioned by the government, the municipal government had to persuade over 1,000 landowners to comply with environmental laws.
Fortunately, in the mid 2010s, the Instituto de Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia, which previously helped Paragominas received a grant of 9.74 million Brazilian real from the Brazilian Development Bank to support the registration and environmental management of the Cadastro ambiental rural in Dom Eliseu, Paragominas, and 9 others.
Natal do Bob Esponja event of 2013
In December 2013, a Christmas event took place in the municipality called "Natal do Bob Esponja" which features the crude mascot of SpongeBob SquarePants, Minne Mouse and an mascot from a local Brazilian cartoon show. TV Atlântico aired commercials regarding to the event.Attack on Dom Eliseu of 2018
In August 2018, a pick-up truck with people with firearms and explosives opens fire nearby to the Dom Eliseu branch of Banco do Brasil at midnight. Bullet shells scattered in the road nearby to the bank, few people were injured by the attack.Geography
Dom Eliseu is situated in a flat surface with the elevation of 180m.Vegetation
Due to its flat surface, it made farming in Dom Eliseu easier, and also nearby creeks in the municipality made farms spread over the area of Dom Eliseu.Demographic
Dom Eliseu's main language is Portuguese. However, some schools offer English classes.Economy
The first economic activity in Dom Eliseu was commerce, due to the characteristic of the settlement, and the restaurant by the first settler of Dom Eliseu. Soon after, the timber industry gained prominence, which led a huge economic cycle, lasting from the 1970s to the 1990s. However, given the predatory nature of the activity itself, it disappeared in the 1990s, due to the exhaustion of plant resources and intense monitoring by Brazilian environmental protection agencies.Agriculture, growing as a parallel activity, gained projection after the closure of many logging companies. Dom Eliseu is one of the municipalities of the so-called "Fronteira agrícola Amazônica", the largest producing region commodities agriculture in this part of the Brazilian territory. The most prominent agricultural commodity in the municipality is the guava. The municipality is also prominent in the production and processing of bovine derivatives.
Agriculture
The first agricultural crops in the area of Dom Eliseu began in the 1960s. The settlers extracted wood, in addition to growing rice, corn, and cassava, mainly for their own supply, with the small surplus being sold to nearby towns in Maranhão. As the area stated to develop, beans, black pepper, and rubber trees began to be grown.Rice beans, corn and cassava are traditional crops and are found throughout the municipal area. Rice cultivation was introduced by southern immigrants, it is prominent in the municipality, concentrating one of the largest producers of this crop in the state of Pará.