– Kayabi people try to return to their Batelão land, but find gunmen on their way

– Pataxó women join the struggle for land area in the south of the state of Bahia

 

 

KAYABI PEOPLE TRY TO RETURN TO THEIR BATELÃO LAND, BUT FIND GUNMEN ON THEIR WAY

 

On September 15, eleven leaders of the Kayabi people left on a boat for a five-day trip on the Peixe river to the Batelão land, from where they were removed in 1966 and taken to the Xingu Indigenous Reservation. The leaders want to return to their traditional land, where they lived for many years and where their cemeteries, fishing sites, and places to gather urucum are located. Although the Peixe river is polluted now, the Kayabi say that they still can hunt and fish in the area.

 

However, the group did not reach their destination because when they got to the bridge where the entrance to the Batelão land is located, about 30 people where waiting for them there, among whom the president of the farmer’s association of the Peixe River Valley, gunmen and two police officers. According to the indigenous leaders Turapan, Faustino and Kanísio Kayabi , who reported the incident to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office on September 25, the police officers asked who was in charge of the expedition and whether Funai had sent the indigenous people there. According to the Kayabi, they were told by farmers that there were many gunmen in the region and that it would not be safe for them to continue on their trip to the Batelão land.

 

This land was identified by Funai in 2003 as a traditional indigenous land. After the respective report was published, the ministry of Justice requested Funai  to carry out new investigations. More than two years have gone by since then, and the situation remains the same.

 

According to the indigenous people, one of the arguments used by the farmers to prevent their access to the land is that it is still being studied and that, for this reason, they cannot occupy it. A meeting to be attended by farmers, Funai representatives and indigenous was scheduled for October 5 in the Apiacá/Kayabi land. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office said it would take all the necessary measures it could to contribute toward solving the land dispute as quickly as possible.

 

Missing – two of the indigenous people involved in the expedition did not accept to spend the night in a camp fearing the gunmen and decided to walk back to the Tatuí village. But they had not arrived in the village until today. At a meeting with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the indigenous leaders asked Funai to try and find the two people.  

 

  

PATAXÓ WOMEN JOIN THE STRUGGLE FOR LAND AREA IN THE SOUTH OF THE STATE OF BAHIA

 

“We felt the need to engage women more in our struggle for land”, said Katiane Soares Santos, a female member of the Pataxó People, as she explained why about 150 women of her people had attended the 1st Meeting of Pataxó Women of the extreme south of Bahia, which was held in Cumuruxatiba, municipality of Prado, on September 21-23, 2006.

 

In the discussions held during the meeting, the women reaffirmed the importance of fighting for their land to ensure a decent life for their people. “The difficulties faced in our struggle for our land affect our education, for example. The city hall says that it cannot build a school or a health center in our area because it has not been demarcated. And the students continue to have classes in the same place where we prepare our manioc flour or in schools made of clay bricks, the walls of which are falling,” said the indigenous leader.

 

Food security in the communities was another topic discussed by the women. Starting immediately, they will seek to ensure the feasibility of self-subsistence and food security programs and projects in their villages. They say that this is particularly important in villages whose territory has not been demarcated yet, where production schemes are more difficult to implement.

 

Safety in indigenous villages against threats received by their leaders because of their struggle for their land, zoning plantation outside indigenous lands “respecting the minimum distance to the indigenous villages to guarantee the biodiversity of the Atlantic Forest and for indigenous people to have free access to their communities”, an appropriate framework and funds for health care and educational services were other requests made at the meeting, where a letter was written to be sent to the Office of the President of the Republic, to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, and to the Ministry of Justice.

 

Brasília, September 28, 2006