Newsletter n. 642
CLÁUDIO FONTELLES AND MARINA SILVA EXPRESS THEIR SUPPORT TO THE OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION OF THE BOUNDS OF THE RAPOSA/SERRA DO SOL INDIGENOUS AREA AS A CONTINUOUS STRIP AT A SEMINAR ORGANIZED BY CIR
“We have been fighting for more than 30 years. Where are the authorities for solving the problem of demarcating our lands, which Makunaima had solved in the past already?” In his speech in the opening session of the seminar “Makunaima Lives in the Raposa/Serra do Sol Area,” the Makuxi chief and coordinator of the Indigenous Council of Roraima, Jacir José de Souza, expressed his sadness over the violence suffered by his people, especially over the terrorist acts of November 23, when 37 indigenous homes were burned down. However, the indigenous leader also expressed his determination to continue to fight and for this purpose mentioned two historical moments for the peoples living in the Raposa area: the myth of Makunaima and the “It’s Now or Never” decision made by the community 27 years ago. “The Raposa/Serra do Sol area as a continuous strip. This is the decision. There is no other. The decision of the community is ‘It’s Now or Never,’” he said.
Makunaima, who became known particularly after a book written by the modernist writer Mario de Andrade was published, is a mythic hero of the peoples living in the land which today is called Raposa/Serra do Sol. He created and gave name to places, lands, mountains. “Makunaima wrote and drew in stones. He walked in all the Raposa/Serra do Sol area, did his job, and left it to his grandchildren. Later it was invaded, without any respect, and then the whole issue of the demarcation came about,” Jacir reports.
The joint decision of the indigenous communities to organize themselves to fight for the land created by Makunaima was made in 1977 and led them to structure their struggle for the land and to overcome problems of disaggregation facing them, among which the large quantity of indigenous people who consumed alcoholic beverages.
The Attorney General, Cláudio Fontelles, said that he will challenge the decision of the Executive Branch if the bounds of the Raposa/Serra do Sol land are not officially confirmed as a continuous strip. “I told president Lula looking him in the eye that I will challenge any decision to demarcate the land in separate areas on the day following the decision.” Fontelles considers that recent decisions made by the Supreme Court to suspend a class action and preliminary orders granted by other courts constitute a victory for the legal dispute for the official confirmation of the bounds of the indigenous land as a continuous strip.
The minister of Environment, Marina Silva, said that she has been working “to ensure a fair and correct solution to this cause, which necessarily implies the demarcation of the Raposa/Serra do Sol area as a continuous strip.” Marina Silva stressed the importance of preserving the cultural diversity of the country, so that cultural exchange may be ensured both today and in the future. “Missing the past is less painful than missing the future when one sees real people in need of a land of their own and of respect to be able to survive. We need the different ones,” she said.
The Makunaima Lives in the Raposa/Serra do Sol Area Seminar, which was organized by the Indigenous Council of Roraima and by the Anthropology Department of the University of Brasília, will continue until Friday, December 3, at the University of Brasília with debate panels and indigenous dances and rituals, chants of struggle and hope, and smoking of guests and visitors.
The debates to be held today, December 2, will focus on “The environment in the Raposa/Serra do Sol area: realities, difficulties and challenges for the indigenous environmental management ” and “Economy and sustainable development in the Raposa/Serra do Sol area.”
Tomorrow, the 3rd, the topics to be addressed will be “Territoriality and Policies,” with the presence of César Alvarez, from the General Secretariat of the President’s Office, and of Déborah Duprat, deputy attorney general. The last panel will discuss “Cultural diversity in the Raposa/Serra do Sol Area and Human Rights,” with the presence of the National Secretary for Human Rights, of the Secretary for Cultural Identity and Diversity of the Ministry of Culture, Sérgio Mamberti, and of a Cimi representative. All the debates begin at 2:00 p.m.
MAN INVOLVED IN THE MURDER OF CHIEF CHICÃO XUKURU IS SENTENCED TO 19 YEARS IN PRISON
A man accused of involvement in the murder of chief Chicão Xukuru, Rivaldo Cavalcanti de Siqueira, was sentenced to 19 years in prison for having acted as an intermediary between the farmer who hired a gunman to kill the indigenous chief, José Cordeiro de Santana, and the gunman himself, José Libório Galindo. Siqueira is the only survivor of the three people identified as having taken part in the murder of the chief by the Federal Police.
Chicão Xukuru was shot to death in the morning May 20, 1988 in Pesqueira, state of Pernambuco. The crime was intensely covered by the domestic and international media, because Chicão was a benchmark in the indigenous struggle for the political reorganization of the Xukuru people, which today are made up of 24 villages and about 9,000 indigenous people.
His leadership in the process of reoccupying traditional Xukuru lands which had been invaded by cattle-raisers and the increasing autonomy of his people, who broke away from old give-and-take political and economic relations between indigenous people and local oligarchies, aroused the wrath of non-indigenous sectors which always took advantage of the lands, labor, and votes of the Xukuru.
Chicão began to be threatened six months before he was killed.
In his trial, the murderer was found guilty of receiving money to kill a person over a land dispute. “The crime was an attempt to demobilize the indigenous people in their struggle for the land. In his sentence, the judge made it clear that Chicão’s death was a serious matter not only because it was a homicide, but also because it enhanced the conflicts between indigenous people and farmers in the region. Other crimes against the Xukuru which took place after the murder of Chicão were committed because of the impunity which had prevailed until this day,” said lawyer Rosane Lacerda, assistant of the prosecutor in charge of the case. “This decision shows that indigenous people were right when they said that Chicão had been killed by a hired gunman,” she said.
Among other possibilities investigated by the Federal Police, those of passional crime and of an internal dispute for power had been considered. Both had been rejected by the indigenous people since the beginning of the investigations. “For years the Federal Police challenged the version of the indigenous people,” said Lacerda, who believes that this decision will reflect on the judgment of other crimes committed against the Xukuru people, among which the murder of Chico Quelé and the ambush against Marcos Xukuru – son of Chicão and current chief of that people – which caused the death of two indigenous persons.
This is the first time that a federal court in Pernambuco convicts a defendant accused of taking part in the murder of an indigenous person.
Brasília, 2 December 2004
