About this hearing, we believe it is important to inform the following:

1. The summon received by the indigenous chiefs was related to the possession lawsuit nr. 2005.50.01.009000-3, petitioned by Aracruz Celulose and having FUNAI as defendant; this lawsuit is about the demonstrations of the Tupinikim and Guarnai communities during the past two years aiming to guarantee the demarcation of 11,009 hectares of their lands. However, in the beginning of the hearing, the judge informed that it was just an informal conversation, a dialogue of understanding about a proposal that the company Aracruz was willing to make and, therefore, the chiefs and leaders were there in the capacity of “guests”. In this sense, the judge cited the decision of the Minister of Justice Márcio Thomas Bastos from February 2007 in which he decided to return the Tupinikim/Guarani land demarcation file to FUNAI to “develop an adequate proposal that sets the interests of the parties”.

2. Each of the seven chiefs could only take with them one leader. During the hearing, Aracruz Celulose had all opportunity to expose its point of view about the land issue and its proposal for an understanding. At the same time, the Indians had their interventions restricted to three of the seven chiefs and to two leaders, being even pressured to talk in a summarized way.

3. Three persons, members of human rights organizations and who give support to the Commission of Tupinikim and Guarani Chiefs, were bared at the entrance of the Federal Court with the argument that there was no space for them. While they were waiting outside the building, they were photographed from several points by people who came out the building of the Federal Court without identifying themselves.

4. The “proposal of understanding”, presented by the representatives of the company, still as ‘guidelines’ for an agreement, are:

“(1) Recognition by all parts that there do not exist indigenous lands (in the sense of traditionally occupied by the Indians) in the region of Aracruz, and that the areas occupied by the communities are indigenous reserves. In this sense, any extension of the present indigenous reserves can only take place by means of expropriation.

(2) In order to facilitate a solution, Aracruz does not discard the possibility to study the donation of an area to be adjusted between the Federal Court, Federal Public Prosecution Service, Ministry of Justice, Funai, indigenous communities and the company.

(3) In order to permit the social and economic development of the indigenous communities, it is of fundamental importance that other actors get involved (federal government, state government, municipality, etc.), so that they,, together with the Indians and Aracruz, develop projects that guarantee autonomy to those communities and permit the elimination of the dependency from Aracruz, stopping, in that way, any paternalistic assistance.

As a pré-condition for an agreement, there must be an immediate stop of the taking out without a permit of wood by members of the communities, which is happening since 2005, as well as the liberation of the access for employees and/or contractors of Aracruz for the forest management in the area” (source: www.aracruz.com.br).

5. In the meeting of the Comission of Tupinikim and Guarani Chiefs and Leaders, that happened on 30 March, all Indians felt very indignant about the special hearing. Firstly because of the way they were treated: summoned; impeded to choose freely their representatives and advisors; impeded to express themselves during the hearing; and being obliged to hear lies such as “your problem is money, not land”, “the decision of the Minister of Justice denies the traditionality of the indigenous possession”, “the land is from Aracruz Celulose”, “the Indians threaten workers and/or contractors from Aracruz”, etc.  Secondly, they felt indignant because of the proposal presented by the company and supported by the judge, which signifies accepting the transformation of the indigenous lands already demarcated (Caieiras Velhas I e II, Pau Brasil and Comboios) in indigenous reserves, denying the traditional habitation of the area, and accepting the reduction of the 11,009 ha and that area also would be demarcated as ‘indigenous reserve’. Getting the lands back under these conditions is “unacceptable” in the evaluation made by the chiefs.  

6. A lawyer of the Alert against the Green Desert Network had Access to the lawsuit on 10 April and certified that the report of the hearing was not included in the file, only the summons. A next hearing was set on 23 May at 09:00hs, for which the chiefs once again were summoned.

We affirm once again the land rights of indigenous peoples in Brazil and recognize the administrative procedure (decree 1.775/96) as the only legal instrument for the demarcation of indigenous lands. It is worth while to remember that the opinion document about the Tupinikim/Guarani land demarcation file from the Juridical Consultancy of the Ministry of Justice from November 2006, on the contrary as Aracruz Celulose affirms, concludes that “Examining the constitutional and infra-constitutional aspects applied to the object of this study, it can be concluded that the present  administrative procedure, aiming to declare the Tupiniquim and Comboios Indigenous Lands, already properly identified and delimited, as being of permanent possession of the Tupiniquim and Guarani Mbyá Indigenous Groups, can prosper”.

We alert the responsibles for the realization and accompanying of the demarcation of indigenous lands in Brazil (Ministry of Justice, Indigenist Nacional Foundation – Funai, Federal Public Prosecution Service) that it can not be admitted that once again the Tupinikim and Guarani are being pressured to negotiate a “solution” for their rights, guaranteed in the Constitution, as has happened in the past struggles in 1981 and 1998. We hope that the authorities express their opinion as soon as possible about these facts and assume their responsibilities.

DEMARCATION DECREE NOW!

Vitória, 12 April 2007