Secretive Christian sect poised to carve big farms out of the Amazon, despite concerns of Indigenous people about the settlers’ deforestation elsewhere in Latin America

Tempers are running high in Klaaskreek, a village 50 miles south of Suriname’s capital, Paramaribo. Local officials and residents meet weekly to pool what they know about three groups of unwelcome new settlers in the area: Mennonite farmers.

Klaaskreek is located in Brokopondo, a hilly district predominantly settled by Saamaka Maroons, who fled from the plantations during the days of slavery. The area, newly popular with tourists, is known for its 1960s-era reservoir and hydroelectric plant, timber concessions, goldmines and fertile land. It is this last resource that is proving attractive to Mennonites.

The Mennonites are a Christian sect that originated in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany in the 16th century, following the teachings of the Anabaptist preacher and religious reformer Menno Simons. Seeking seclusion, religious freedom and agricultural land for their large families, Mennonite groups, who often speak a Dutch-German dialect, started settling in Latin America more than 100 years ago after migrating from western Europe to Russia and from there to the Americas.

In a country scarred by colonialism and the legacy of slavery, what bothers local people most is the lack of detailed information from the government about the new settlements. Suriname’s president, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, has said only that the government granted permission to settle to 50 Mennonite families, who will most likely come from Bolivia.

According to Santokhi, it will be a three-year pilot project. “The state will not provide land to the group. They will also not be eligible for land belonging to tribal communities,” the president assured parliament recently.

The company behind the arrival of the Mennonite settlers is Terra Invest, which is owned by Ruud Souverein, a Dutch businessman based in Suriname, and his Argentinian business partner, Adrián Barbero. Souverein says he has been working with Mennonites for three years and that Barbero has been doing the same in Latin American countries for 25 years.

Souverein confirmed to the Guardian that 50 Mennonite families from Bolivia, Belize and Mexico intend to settle in the country. On their behalf, Terra Invest is looking for a total of 50,000 hectares (125,000 acres) of land, to be divided between the three communities. “That’s the same as 0.4% of Suriname’s land,” he says, showing the official letter in which the president of Suriname confirms the settlements.

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