ADMINISTRATIVE RULINGS DELIMIT SIX INDIGENOUS LANDS. THE BOUNDS OF SIX OTHER LANDS ARE YET TO BE DEFINED

 

The boundaries of six indigenous lands were declared on Wednesday (September 22). The respective declaratory administrative rulings – which define the boundaries of indigenous lands and determine their demarcation – were signed by the Minister of Justice, Márcio Thomaz Bastos, and refer to lands located in the states of Amazonas, Pará, Bahia and Pernambuco in the North and Northeast Regions of Brazil.

 

Six other processes still depend on a reply from the Ministry of Justice. According to Decree No. 1775/96, which provides for the administrative procedure for demarcating indigenous lands in Brazil, the Ministry must publish the declaratory administrative ruling within thirty days of receiving the process.

 

The processes which are still waiting for a definition are related to indigenous lands (il) in the states of Mato Grosso (Batelão il, belonging to the Kayabi people), Mato Grosso do Sul  (Cachoeirinha il, belonging to the Terena people), São Paulo (Piaçaguera il., belonging to the Guarani Nhandeva people) and in the states of Santa Catarina and Paraná (The Aldeia Kondá, Palmas and Rio dos Índios indigenous lands, belonging to the Kaingang, and the Morro dos Cavalos il belonging to the Guarani M´bya and Guarani Nhandeva peoples).

 

Obstacles in the way of further administrative rulings

 

According to information obtained by Cimi representatives in Santa Catarina, the Ministry of Justice is about to set up a committee in that state to discuss land demarcation procedures with state and federal government representatives. This possibility had already been considered in 2003, at the request of the Governor of Santa Catarina, Luiz Henrique. At that time, the indigenous people’s movement was opposed to forming such a group, as it thought that the purpose of this type of committee would be to slow down and disturb demarcation processes.

 

Cimi agrees with this position and considers it ridiculous to create opportunities where regional political and economic interests can interfere with the demarcation of indigenous lands. The Federal Constitution determines that it is the Union’s responsibility to decide these issues for the specific purpose of avoiding interference of regional interests in relation to indigenous lands.

 

The demarcated indigenous lands

 

Of the 11 declaratory administrative rulings signed under the Lula Government, those referring to the Imbiriba (belonging to the Pataxó from Porto Seguro, Bahia) and Entre Serras (Pankararu, on the outskirts of the municipalities of Petrolândia and Tacaratú, in Pernambuco) indigenous lands are the first ones involving lands in the Northeast.

 

The Imbiriba indigenous land was demarcated with an area of 398 hectares. Part of this area was invaded by a rancher, Moacir Andrade, who has for years been pressing some indigenous leaders to agree to a reduction in area. The group lives near to the Monte Pascoal National Park. Ever since this Park was set up, in the 1950s, countless Pataxó families have lost their land of origin.

 

The Entre Serras indigenous land, in Pernambuco, is an area that had not been included in the demarcation of the Pankararu lands, in 1987. The recognition of this area, covering 7,750 hectares, is the fruit of 12 years of struggle and the result of the pressure applied by indigenous people, who were in Brasília at the start of the year.

 

Administrative rulings dealing with indigenous lands in the state of Amazonas have also been published. These involve the Apurinã do Igarapé Mucuim indigenous land, belonging to the Apurinã, covering 75,000 hectares; the Banawá indigenous land, belonging to the Banawá people, covering 195,700 hectares, and the Itixi Mitari indigenous land, belonging to the Apurinã, covering 180,850 hectares.

 

The Parakanã people, from Pará, had the Apyterewa land demarcated with 773,000 hectares. This land has already been the object of two annulled declaratory administrative rulings. The first of these gave the land an area of 980,000 hectares and the second one gave it the same 773,000 hectares as defined now.

 

The challenges that led to the reduction in area came from the former state governor, Almir Gabriel, and from the city hall of São Félix do Xingu. This indigenous land is today the target of lumberjacks and squatters, and an Incra (The National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform) settlement can be found there.

 

According to the press office of the Ministry of Justice, the demarcation of the Banawá indigenous land will enable the sources of local small waterways, which had not been included in the original identification proposal made by Funai in 1986, to be protected. During the administrative demarcation of the Banawá-Yafi indigenous land in the Piranhas river, the Funai technicians discovered that the area traditionally occupied by the Banawá was not that which had been proposed by the Technical Group (GT) and declared in a government order in 1992.  The demarcation published yesterday is based on a review of the land boundaries carried out by Funai (The National Foundation for Indigenous People) Technical Group.

 

FUNAI RECONSIDERS A FORMER DECISION AND DECIDES THAT THE PHYSICAL DEMARCATION OF THE CANTAGALO INDIGENOUS LAND, IN THE STATE OF RIO GRANDE DO SUL, WILL BE CARRIED OUT WITHOUT ANY CHANGES

 

Last Friday (September 17), Funai (The National Foundation for Indigenous People) decided to suspend alterations to the demarcation of the Cantagalo Indigenous Land belonging to the Guarani M’Byá people in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

 

During the physical land demarcation job, the contracted mapping company had been altering the boundaries determined in the indigenous land declaratory administrative ruling, which would have resulted in a reduction of 50 hectares in the area.

 

The irony of this – apart from the fact that Funai has to determine that a company hired to carry out a specific job is to carry it out as defined before – is that, in November 2003, the declaratory administrative ruling for the demarcation of 286 hectares of the Cantagalo indigenous land was ratified in a ceremony attended by three ministers– Márcio Thomaz Bastos (Justice), Olívio Dutra (Cities) and Miguel Rossetto (Agrarian Development) – and the president of Funai, Mércio Gomes Pereira.

 

Brasília, 23 September 2004.