Newsletter n.°. 672
In this newsletter:
– Judiciary Branch suspends Ivy Katu administrative ruling and determines eviction against reoccupation of the Sombrerito land. Guarani Kaiowá get together
– Guarani people of Santa Catarina struggle for safety and for the demarcation of their lands
– Truká Chief is arrested. People fear for their safety
– Lawsuit against expropriation of Apyterewa land in the state of Pará is dismissed
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JUDICIARY BRANCH SUSPENDS IVY KATU ADMINISTRATIVE RULING AND DETERMINES EVICTION AGAINST REOCCUPATION OF THE SOMBRERITO LAND. GUARANI KAIOWÁ GET TOGETHER
Over seven hundred Kaiowá Guarani coming from villages located throughout the state of Mato Grosso do Sul have been gathered for two days in their Great Meeting, which is called Aty Guasu in the Guarani language. On the first day of the meeting, reports of the challenges faced by the Kaiowá were heard. And these challenges are not few: on the 12th, the indigenous people heard the news that a federal judge accepted a request filed by farmers for repossessing the Sombrerito indigenous land, as a result of which the Guarani could be evicted from that land. Part of the land was reoccupied by the Kaiowá on June 26 and farmers reacted by killing an indigenous man and injuring five other people.
An administrative ruling related to another Guarani land, the Yvy Katu land, was suspended on June 8 by a decision of the Higher Court of Justice (STJ). By suspending the administrative ruling that had been published on July 4, justice Edson Vidigal of the Higher Court of Justice prevented the land, which is located at a distance of 472 km from Campo Grande, the capital of the state, from being demarcated.
The declaration of the bounds of the Ivy Katu land was the result of a long struggle of the Guarani Kaiowá and Nhandeva, who reoccupied their lands in 2003 and expelled from them farmers who grew soybeans in 14 farms located in them. After threats of eviction and many negotiations, the indigenous people remained in 3 of the 14 farms which were reoccupied. Before the reoccupation, 3800 indigenous people were living in the 1,648 hectares of the Porto Lindo reservation, which was demarcated in 1928 by the Service for Protecting Indigenous People (SPI).
The Guarani claimed the recognition of these lands in a letter published yesterday: “We want our shout against violence and for the recognition of our rights to be heard by good people throughout Brazil and in all parts of the world, as we need all the support we can get and many friends to put an end to our suffering, the death of our children from starvation and malnutrition, and the killing of our leaders. And this will only happen when our lands are duly recognized as such and we are allowed to live in them, produce our own food, and live in peace according to the Kaiowá Guarani tradition.”
Because of the challenges of reoccupying the Sombrerito land, the Kaiowá have been requesting the prompt publication of the report identifying the land, which according to Funai is about to be issued. They also request that the procedures for demarcating the land be carried out within the deadlines set out in the law. Usually, these deadlines are disregard by Funai and the ministry of Justice.
The Guarani also requested the Federal Prosecutor\’s Office (MPF) and Funai to appeal against the judicial decision according to which the indigenous people are to be evicted from the Sombrerito land and to allow them to stay in that land until its identification process is completed. And they requested Funai and Funasa to provide the Sombrerito community with the assistance it is entitled to.
GUARANI PEOPLE IN THE STATE OF SANTA CATARINA STRUGGLE FOR SAFETY AND FOR THE DEMARCATION OF THEIR LANDS
The Guarani are also fighting for the recognition of their lands in the state of Santa Catarina, located in Brazil\’s south region. Three children were run over by a car and seriously injured when they were walking next to the BR 101 highway. The highway cuts the Morro dos Cavalos indigenous land.
“In our small village, there is no other path, no other alternative than walking next to that highway or crossing it. We live in a small area between a hill and the highway. But our land is not only the margin of the highway, it is much larger. Unfortunately, we cannot use it because white men are using it, and we cannot even collect materials in them to make our handicraft products or build our houses because we are threatened,” report the Guarani people in another note published yesterday (the 13th).
After years looking for a solution to the highway problem, the Guarani proposed that a tunnel be built in the dangerous area. However, the Federal Prosecutor\’s Office believes that because building the tunnel would require engineering works involving the underground of the indigenous land, an article of the Federal Constitution should be regulated before the project could be approved. However, this article also affects the regulation of mining activities in indigenous lands, and therefore it is controversial and depends on the interests of mining companies and politicians to be regulated.
Stalled demarcation – The Morro dos Cavalos land has been identified by the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai), but since 2003 its bounds have not been officially established pending the publication of an administrative ruling defining its bounds for its physical demarcation to be carried out. The process is stuck in the ministry of Justice. “Almost two years have gone by and the Minister has not signed it [the administrative ruling], in defiance of the law (Decree 1775/96), which sets out a deadline of 30 days for it to be signed.”
In part, the pressure against the demarcation of this indigenous land comes from people who say that the recognition of the rights of the indigenous people would make it difficult to duplicate the BR 101 highway. The political scenario in the state of Santa Catarina is also unfavorable to the indigenous people. The governor of the state set up a commission in 2004, with the approval of the ministry of Justice, to decide on demarcation activities in the State. The commission has been dealing with a subject that is beyond the competence of the state, since it is a federal matter, and it was clearly set up for the purpose of preventing the demarcation of indigenous lands.
TRUKÁ CHIEF IS ARRESTED. PEOPLE FEAR FOR THEIR SAFETY
Aurivan dos Santos, known as Neguinho, chief of the Truká people and one of the most widely known northeastern leaders in Brazil, was arrested last Monday (the 11th) by the Federal Police of the Salgueiro city, state of Pernambuco, after testifying on the murder of his brother and nephew on June 30 inside the Truká land, located in the Assunção Island.
It is a political arrest. The arrest warrant was based on a lawsuit against Neguinho and other indigenous leaders for the theft of two bulls in 2003. In that year, the Truká drove all the cattle away from farms that invaded their land. A farmer reported the disappearance of two bulls, which were returned to him by Funai.
Therefore, the lawsuit is against actions carried out by the Truká to remove invaders from their lands since the 1990s. The reoccupation actions allowed this people to return to their traditional territory, which had been invaded by farmers. The land is now demarcated, but various leaders face arrest warrants issued in the context of a process of criminalizing their struggle for their land.
The Truká are worried about Neguinho\’s safety and want him to be transferred from the Salgueiro penitentiary to another one located in Petrolina. \”The Office of the Attorney General accepted the request and tomorrow he will be transferred to the Petrolina penitentiary, where he will be safer, since the Truká fear that police officers may beat him,\” said lawyer Michael Mary Nolan, the defense attorney in charge of the case. The request was made during a meeting held yesterday (the 14th) in the afternoon with the Federal Attorney in the State of Pernambuco, Vanessa Cristina Previtera, and the attorney of the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai), Cláudio de Souza.
At the meeting, the Public Prosecutor\’s Office accepted a request made by the indigenous people for it to investigate reports of abuse on the part of military police officers in the state of Pernambuco. The Truká also requested the Federal Prosecutor\’s Office to study the possibility of limiting the presence of the Military Police in the indigenous land. The Truká proposed that only duly trained and uniformed police officers should be assigned to protect their islands.
LAWSUIT AGAINST EXPROPRIATION OF THE APYTEREWA LAND IN THE STATE OF PARÁ IS DISMISSED
Good news at last. Jutice Celso de Mello of the Supreme Federal Court dismissed a lawsuit aimed at suspending an administrative process for demarcating the Apyterewa land in the state of Pará. The request was filed by the municipality of São Felix do Xingu, where the indigenous land is located.
The municipality argued that the official confirmation of the bounds of the area would entail the eviction of thousands of agricultural producers, cattle-raisers, settlers and other people from the land. According to advisors to the Supreme Federal Court, the decision of the justice to dismiss the request is based on the Civil Code, according to which the municipality cannot file a lawsuit to defend rights other than its own (rights of agricultural producers, cattle-raisers, settlers, shepherds, storeowners, etc).
Brasília, 14 June 2005
