Newsletter No. 775 – Sucuri’y – Guarani return to living on their land and make plans
Newsletter No. 775
Sucuri’y – Guarani return to living on their land and make plans
Isolated peoples and borders are topics at a meeting in Acre
ISOLATED PEOPLE AND borders are topics at a meeting in Acre
Policies and actions relating to isolated peoples, the situation of peoples who are divided by the borders between Brazil, Bolivia and Peru and infrastructure projects that impact on the people of the Amazon Region. These are the main topics of the 2nd Trinational Meeting of Indigenous People from the Brazil, Bolivia and Peru borders, which started on 17 July and continues until tomorrow, 20 July, in Rio Branco, Acre.
One of the main concerns, on the subject of borders, is that Nation States should respect the relationships between the people that live in the places where there are now borders between countries. This is the opinion of the anthropologist Jacó Piccoli, of the Federal University of Acre (UFAC). ”One of the actions necessary is to facilitate the movement of the indigenous people, who face problems when they are subjected to border controls that do not take their specific characteristics into account”, says the researcher, who is one of the organizers of the event. Several peoples who have been separated by borders keep in contact with each other.
Piccoli also believes that another central point is to defend the lands of these populations so that they can live their lives free from threats. Indeed, some of the present-day threats come from the States themselves: hydroelectric projects, highways, cattle breeding, mining, lumberjacking, oil and gas prospecting and tourism in indigenous lands are some of the problems faced by the communities.
There will be a march up to the Legislative Assembly of Acre, at 10:30 am on Friday, 20 July, to deliver the meeting’s proposals to the state deputies.
This meeting has been organized by the Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of Acre, Southern Amazonas and Northeastern Rondônia (OPIN), the Federation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Madre de Dios River and its Tributaries (FENAMAD), from Peru, and the Center for Indigenous People from the Pando Amazon, from Bolivia.
SUCURI’Y – GUARANI RETURN TO LIVING ON THEIR LAND AND MAKE PLANS
“We are at peace. We are going to work on our land. We are going to farm, breed chickens, breed fish and pigs and look after nature”, said old Turíbio proudly. As Wilson, the chief of the Sucuri’y community passed by the huts and walked through the crops, he spoke of the community’s plans to organize the families to produce food, look after the land and replant the forest.
On 26 June, representatives of the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai), the Justice Department and the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Dourados, were in the area to hand over the Sucuri’y Indigenous Land, which covers an area of 535 hectares, to the Kaiowá-Guarani community. The group had been confined to an area of 64 hectares for 10 years, whilst its lands were invaded by ranchers and their crops.
Long history of resistance
The expulsion of the Guarani from this land began in 1947. The state government intended to use the land for a research institute and it was later occupied by ranchers. The indigenous people remained in the region, including around the outskirts of the city of Maracaju. Ever since 1984, the community had been trying to recover the land so that the people could once again be able to live there, but they were always expelled by the ranchers and their hired thugs. During one of the repossessions, in 1997, a negotiated solution was attempted and the Guarani were left to stay in an area of 64 hectares, whilst the rangers cultivated the rest of the land.
The land was demarcated in 1996, officially recognized and even registered in 2004, but a legal dispute prevented the Guarani from living there. Finally, on 10 January 2007, a judge from the Court of 1st Instance, in Dourados, decided in favor of the Guarani. He gave the ranchers 90 days to withdraw from the area. After listening to the appeals launched by the ranchers and the indigenous people, on 5 July, the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region recognized the rights of the Kaiowá to the Sucuri’y Indigenous Land
Brasília, 19 July 2007
