Newsletter no 788

 

– A Guajajara is killed in a conflict between indigenous people and woodcutters in the state of Maranhão

– Assembly of the Tupinikim and Guarani peoples was held to discuss an agreement to be signed with the Aracruz company

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A Guajajara is killed in a conflict between indigenous people and woodcutters in the state of Maranhão

On Monday (October 15) at 06:00 a.m., a group of 15 armed men invaded the Lagoa Comprida village in the Araribóia indigenous land, located in the municipality of Amarante, Mid-West Region of the state of Maranhão. They killed Tomé Guajajara, 60, and shot two other people: Madalena Paulino Guajajara, in her neck, and Antônio Paulino Guajajara, in his right arm.

According to information provided by the head of the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai) office responsible for the area, the invaders started to shoot at the indigenous people and five of them were made hostages and taken to a soccer field, where they were threatened with shots into the air. Tomé Guajajara reacted and shot a woodcutter, and as a result he was killed with 6 shots. Soon after, the invaders ran away threatening to come back and kill all of them.

This action was a reprisal from the woodcutters against the Guajajara people who, early in September, seized a woodcutter truck that was passing through an indigenous land. In the same week, the woodcutters started to look for the indigenous people and tried to recover their truck offering them one thousand reals. The indigenous people refused to negotiate and reported the fact to Funai. Even knowing about the truck’s seizure and the risk posed by this situation, one month went by without Funai taking any measure about it.

Cimi missionaries who went to the village found the community abandoned. “There is nobody from Funai there and the Federal Police officers who were there have left it already,” one of the missionaries said. They reported that indigenous people are terrified and that, with the possibility of a new attack, many of them took refuge in the city. “A woman was so desperate that she hid in the forest with her newborn son and they were only found two days later.” The Cimi team in the region evaluated that if no measure is taken to protect the community, it is very likely that the conflict will escalate, resulting in disastrous consequences.

This conflict between indigenous peoples and woodcutters in the Araribóia indigenous land began decades ago. Since the early 1980s, this land has been suffering due to the invasion and exploitation of woodcutters. According to information provided by the community of the Lagoa Comprida village, in 2002 the indigenous person Kelé Apolinário, 55, who lived in the Abraão village (located in the same indigenous land), was found dead in the forest. Indigenous people suspect that his death was caused by actions of woodcutters, but the case was never investigated.

In the same indigenous land, indigenous people from the Awá Guajá People also suffer with the exploitation in it. In 2003, the body of a member of this people was found in the forest. It is suspected that he might have died of thirst, since water springs in the region are drying up as a result of the deforestation caused by woodcutters.

The two indigenous people who were shot received medical treatment and both of them are now back in the indigenous village. They face no risk of death as a result of their injuries.

Cimi – Regional Office in the state of Maranhão

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Assembly of the Tupinikim and Guarani peoples was held to discuss an agreement to be signed with the Aracruz company

About 300 indigenous people from seven Tupinikim and Guarani villages attended the Assembly, which was held Tuesday (October 16) at the Caieiras Velha village, municipality of Aracruz, state of Espírito Santo. The Assembly was also attended by the president of the National Foundation for Indigenous People – Funai, Márcio Meira, and was held to discuss topics related to an agreement to be signed among indigenous peoples, the Brazilian Government, and the Aracruz Celulose company with the aim of fostering the evacuation and reoccupation of the Tupinikim and Comboios indigenous lands, which were invaded by the company back in the 1960s.

The proposals submitted to the Assembly were prepared in previous meetings held in Brasília and mediated by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office which were attended by indigenous leaders and representatives from the Aracruz company, from the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai) and from the Ministry of Justice.

One of the factors mentioned by indigenous people was the participation of members of their communities at their suggestion to work as technical assistants in an ethno-environmental study coordinated by Funai to be carried out in the area. This study will reveal the damages caused by eucalyptus plantations and will suggest recovery projects to be implemented in the territories as a means to make up for the environmental degradation caused by those plantations and to ensure conditions for the indigenous communities to sustain themselves. “What are we going to do after the Aracruz company removes its plantations and leaves behind it a degraded and useless area without jobs?” asked the chief of the Caieiras Velha village, José Cesenando. The purpose of the study is to answer questions like this one.

According to terms signed in previous meetings, the Aracruz company will take on the commitment to finance the execution of part of the environmental and sustainability projects, while the remaining part will be financed by the Federal Government. Indigenous people want to have some guarantees that the government will comply with its commitment: “the communities have doubts in relation to whether the government will actually assume all the responsibilities it took, because the deforestation and damages caused by the Aracruz company are no small problem,” the chief said.

According to him, the present situation of the communities is very precarious. “We don’t have any means to ensure our livelihood. We used to sell shellfish, but it is now forbidden to capture them; bean seeds arrived too late for us to be able to plant them and no indigenous person can find any job in the city because of the campaign launched by the Aracruz company against us,” he said. In response, the Assembly requested the government to release the funds it pledged to provide to be applied in emergency social projects for assisting indigenous peoples immediately after the Conduct Adjustment Term (TAC) is signed

Another agreement that was ensured during the Assembly was the participation of indigenous people in all procedures to be carried out. Thus, not only the ethno-environmental study, but also all processes for demarcating indigenous lands and for drawing up the sustainability and environmental recovery projects will be followed up on by members of the Tupinikim and Guarani indigenous peoples.

The Assembly proposed October 30 as the date for holding the next meeting between indigenous people and representatives from the Aracruz company and from the Federal Government for discussing the items to be included in the TAC agreement that will be prepared by lawyers of the parties.

The Tupinikim and Comboios indigenous lands cover an area of 18,027 hectares and were declared traditional indigenous areas through administrative rulings published on August 28 by the Ministry of Justice.                                                     

Brasília, October 18, 2007

www.cimi.org.br

Indianist Missionary Council