Newsletter No. 733
– Affection and solidarity at the funeral of Dom Franco
– The Guarani of Mato Preto: struggle and resistance for their traditional lands
AFFECTION AND SOLIDARITY AT THE FUNERAL OF DOM FRANCO MASSERDOTTI
The funeral of Dom Franco Masserdotti, who died during the afternoon of Sunday, 17 September due to a traffic accident, took place yesterday, Tuesday 19 September. Many people from Balsas, the city where the bishop used to live, were present. After a procession through the city, the funeral was held in Balsas Cathedral. Masserdotti had been President of Cimi since 1999. A Seventh Day Requiem Mass was be held in a chapel in Brasilia last Saturday, 22.
The Cathedral was packed during the mass, held from 9:00 to 11:00 am, and many other people followed the celebration from outside the church. As well as the local population, members of Dom Franco’s family who had come from Italy, Catholics and members of other religions, indigenous Apinajé people, Cimi missionaries from several regions of the country and local and federal government representatives were also present.
The Apinajé present performed one of their traditional funeral rituals, which involved handing over offerings such as flour and bread, so that Dom Franco would remain strong.
Dom Franco, as he was called, used to say that his baptism in the indigenous issue took place at Coroa Vermelha, at the time of the Indigenous Conference 2000, when the elite celebrated the 500th anniversary of the start of the invasion. There, he faced the repression commanded by Colonel Muller. Many indigenous people were hurt and D. Franco was arrested for some time, and even though he had been released, he wanted to remain with the prisoners. It was a highly significant moment, where the President of Cimi showed that his place was to be at the side of the indigenous people and the missionaries who were there. He did not flee from confrontation. Furthermore, at the time of the 500th anniversary of the Evangelization, he, together with a small group of bishops, had the courage to register his disagreement with these celebrations.
THE GUARANI OF MATO PRETO: STRUGGLE AND RESISTANCE FOR THEIR TRADITIONAL LANDS
About 20 Guarani families have been camped by the side of the RS-135 highway since 2003, where they have been exposed to the rigors of the Rio Grande do Sul weather. The best word to describe the situation of this community is “precarious”. Their houses are precarious, the health services they receive are precarious and the conditions in which the children study are precarious. Even so, as the Guarani are a persistent people, they continue to fight for the demarcation of their land, which is currently at the identification stage. According to the press office of the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai), the foundation is discussing the study with the anthropologist responsible for identifying the land, which was finished for the second time in July this year.
On 15 September, Funai published a government order creating a Technical Group, which has a period of 45 days to present an analysis of the land in the area. This analysis, which will identify the non-indigenous occupants, the size of the area that they occupy and the type of property, is one of theparts of information that is necessary for the identification of an indigenous land.
Mato Preto (Tekoá Ka’aty) is located in the Northeast of Rio Grande do Sul, in the municipality of Getúlio Vargas. There is only one demarcated Guarani land in the region, the Vontouro land, occupying 3,300 hectares, shared with the Kaingang people. The Guarani families in this region have been living in the lands belonging to the Kaingang people, in spite of it being well-known that based on historical and archeological data, there are also Guarani territories there.
After being expelled from the lands where they used to live, in the 1950s, the Guarani of Mato Preto moved into the Cacique Doble land, belonging to the Kaingang people, situated in the municipality with the same name.
In 2002, after pressure from the Guarani, Funai carried out a pre-analysis of the Mato Preto, which concluded that the Technical Group (TG) should be set up to identify and define the boundaries of the land. Based on this, the Guarani mobilized and occupied the lands in September 2003, demanding action from Funai. According to information from the Cimi team that works with this people, the TG was created in April 2004 and the anthropologist Flávia de Melo delivered the report with the conclusions in October 2005, indicating that around 4,000 hectares had been identified. At the start of this year, Funai asked for further information to be added to the report. The study was returned to Funai in July and is now being reviewed again.
The opposition to the recognition of the Guarani land is headed by agricultural federations, such as Farsul, and by some city halls in the region. Last year Farsul, city halls in the region and rural unions set up a commission called “The Commission for indigenous and descendents of slaves communities”, with the aim of opposing demarcation of Mato Preto land, according to information from the Cimi team in the region.
Brasília, 21 September 2006
