On May 5, a federal court of Mato Grosso do Sul issued a writ of entry in favor of the owners of the Madama Farm, located in the traditional territory of the Guarani, in the Amambaí region. The area was occupied by about 60 Kaiowá Guarani on May 6.

 

It was a decision to be applied immediately, since the court had already granted a decision in favor of the farmers in a lawsuit requesting an injunction after the same area was reoccupied in January of this year. This decision prevented the indigenous people from returning to the area.

 

The Federal Police went to the reoccupied area today in the morning (May 10) and they are already authorized to evict the indigenous people. According to indigenous leaders, on the 8th at night ruffians working for farmers fired their guns in the air in the region.

 

Flávio Reis, an attorney of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, said that he has no plans to appeal against the judicial decision for the time being. He said that he was only informed about the judicial decision and still needs to study it carefully.

 

The Coordination of Social Movements of Mato Grosso do Sul, which has always supported the struggle of indigenous people in that state, is mobilizing itself to prevent this new act of violence against the Kurussu Ambá community.

 

Murder

In January, after the same area was reoccupied by the Guarani, gunmen hired by farmers evicted them from the farm without any legal authority. During the eviction action, a Guarani religious leader, Xurete Lopes, was shot to death near her tent. Her murderers remain unpunished until now.

During the same action, four indigenous people were arrested under charges of theft in a situation prepared by the farmers. They have been kept in prison since then.

Vice-president of the Senate is against a bill authorizing mining activities in indigenous lands
Senator Tião Viana (Workers’ Party – state of Acre), the vice-president of the Senate, declared that he is against a law-proposal prepared by the Federal Government to regulate mining activities in indigenous lands. This happened during a meeting held on May 2 with the vice president of Cimi, Saulo Feitosa, which was convened to discuss research data indicating that petroleum has been found in Acre.

During the meeting, Feitosa said that any measures to regulate the exploitation of mineral resources in indigenous lands must be discussed as part of the debate on the Statute of Indigenous Peoples. He challenged the law-proposal of the Federal Government to regulate mining activities in indigenous lands. Senator Tião Viana said that he agreed with him.

At the meeting, Feitosa expressed Cimi’s concerns with any petroleum exploitation in indigenous lands in the state of Acre. Legally, this activity cannot be carried out because there is no specific regulation to be applied to the exploitation of mineral resources in indigenous lands. Furthermore, petroleum prospection can have high environmental and social impacts – as a result of the presence of non-indigenous people in indigenous lands and of the physical framework that needs to be set up for this activity. The impacts can begin to be felt even before the petroleum is actually exploited. Senator Tião Viana said that his proposal for petroleum prospection in the state of Acre does not involve indigenous lands or conservation units, as the law provides for.

 

Even if the exploitation of oil and natural gas is not directly carried out in indigenous lands, it will be necessary to study the direct and indirect impacts of these activities for the population before any authorization is granted.

 

 

CIMI, Missionary Council on Indigenous Issues

Brazil, 10^th of May 2007

www.cimi.org.br