– Security guards hired by farmers assaulted a Guarani community in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul

– Funai publishes a report reviewing the bounds of a land belonging to the Guajajara people in the state of Maranhão

 

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Security guards hired by farmers assaulted a Guarani community in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul

 

Last week, two old women from the Guarani people were raped by security guards who work for a farm that is encroaching on the Ñanderu Marangatu land, near the municipality of Antônio João in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Since 2005, when the Supreme Federal Court (STF) suspended the effects of the official confirmation of the bounds of the land and as a result the Guarani people were displaced, the tension between indigenous people and security guards has been a constant issue.

 

After six months living in a road bordering the land, on August 2005, the Guarani families returned to a 100-hectare area for the road to be paved. The farmer accepted the return of the indigenous people, but he maintains a large number of security guards watching the rest of the land.

 

According to Guarani leader Léia Aquino, the women were raped when they were collecting firewood in the area where the families are living. The husband of one of the victims was beaten as he tried to defend his wife. Other acts of violence and threats have been registered recently.

 

“Without firewood we can’t cook, and as result our children are not fed. The situation is getting harder since the beginning of October. We have already reported what happened, but Funai has not sent any official here so far,” explains Léia, who is worried about this situation. The reports were referred to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in the municipality of Ponta Porã, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, last week. 

 

During the last Guarani Aty Guasu (assembly) held between October 26 and 28 in the Sombrerito village, leaders from the Marangatu land stressed the fact that they are virtually prevented from living in the area for all practical purposes. They reaffirmed that, in order to solve this issue, the Supreme Federal Court should decide in favor of the official confirmation of the bounds of the area for the invaders to be removed from the land and for the indigenous people to be able to live in it.

 

 

 

Background

The Ñanderu Marangatu indigenous territory was confirmed by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on March 23, 2005, and it covers 9,316 hectares. On July 2005, the then chief justice of the Supreme Federal Court, Nelson Jobim, decided to suspend the effects of the official confirmation of the bounds of the land through temporary restraining orders. Through an injunction, the farmers requested the Supreme Federal Court to suspend the effects of the official confirmation of the bounds of the land until a process for interrupting the land demarcation, which is now being judged by a federal court in the municipality of Ponta Porá, is concluded.

 

On December 15, 2005, over 200 heavily armed Federal Police officers using helicopters evicted about 700 indigenous people from a 500-hectare area. They set up a camp on a road next to the land and stayed there for six months. Since they were evicted, the Guarani people have been asking the Supreme Federal Court to judge the grounds of the injunction and to ensure the indigenous people’s right to the official confirmation of the bounds of their land. Justice Cezar Peluzzo is the rapporteur of the case. As a result of this conflict, security guards from the Gaspem company, who were hired by the farmer, killed the Guarani leader Dorvalino Rocha on December 24, 2005.

 

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Funai publishes a report reviewing the bounds of a Guajajara land in the state of Maranhão

 

On October 31, the reports of the technical group in charge of reviewing the bounds of the Bacurizinho indigenous land, belonging to the Guajajara people in the state of Maranhão, were published in the Official Gazette.  The report declared 134,000 hectares as traditional indigenous land. Since 2001, when the reviewing process began, two people were murdered in conflicts with farmers who are against the review.

 

About 4,000 Guajajara people live in the land. It is located near the municipality of Grajaú and was confirmed in the 1980s as an 82,432-hectare area. As a result, various ancient indigenous villages were not included in it. The process of reviewing the bounds of the land was interrupted in 2004, when the Working Group (GT) delivered the reports to the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai). On June 2006, a federal court ruled that Funai was to resume the procedures in compliance with a request from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office.

 

Because a large part of this area was not included in the first demarcation, the invaders saw a chance to invade it. The region was almost entirely taken by companies exploiting plaster, charcoal kilns, and irregular soybean, eucalyptus and sugarcane plantations.

 

The groups interested in the area tried to put an end to the review process. They are accused of hiring people to commit different crimes against the indigenous people. In 2003, chief Zequinha Mendes was run over by a car and died in this action and the community believes it was a deliberate criminal act. In 2004, a group of armed people invaded one of the villages located in the area. In 2005, six armed men invaded a village, killed its chief, João Guajajara, 70, raped his sixteen year old daughter and shot one of his sons in the head. In February 2007, a group invaded another village and set 30 houses on fire.

 

After long years of struggle, the publication of the WG reports is a victory for the Guajajara people and for the organizations which support them. A 90-day deadline was established for people who oppose the review process to file their arguments against it.

 

Brasília, November 1, 2007

www.cimi.org.br

  Indianist Missionary Council