The health status of indigenous peoples in the Javari Valley (west of the state of Amazonas) is critical. The Indigenous Council of the Javari Valley (Civaja) informed that, between December 3 and 30 last year, eight indigenous people, five of whom were children, died in the region. Civaja intends to report this situation to international organizations.

 

“We do not believe in promises anymore,” said Clovis Marubo, coordinator of Civaja, an organization which came to in Brasília in 2007 to report the health status of indigenous peoples in the Javari Valley to the Minister of Health and other Federal Government representatives.  Civaja reported that these indigenous people died because they were not timely removed from their village to where they could get medical treatment. “We do not know for sure the cause of their death, whether it was malaria, yellow fever, hepatitis…,” said Clovis, who criticized the non-conclusion of a serological investigation in the region. “We do not know which diseases are infecting our people here,” he added.

 

According to Civaja, the Indigenous Health Care Home – CASAI, located in the city of Atalaia do Norte, is being used as a shelter for over 150 indigenous people today, but it was built to accommodate up to 35 individuals at most. In indigenous villages, at least 6 children are in serious health conditions and will have to be removed to a different location; among them one of the sisters of a child who died on December 29.

 

Civaja has reinforced reports against the City Hall of Atalaia do Norte. One of the children who died, Txuki, 6, from the Marubo people, waited for two days for an authorization from the City Hall for a boat to be sent for him. Due to the delay, Txuki died on December 28 while being taken to Atalaia do Norte. Besides, according to the Council, some people who work in the City Hall are allegedly using funds earmarked for health care services for indigenous people for other purposes.

 

Agreements X Outcomes

After a public hearing held in Atalaia on August 2007, the 6th Federal Chamber of the Prosecutor’s Office, the National Health Foundation (Funasa) and other agencies signed a second Conduct Adjustment Term (TAC) which listed several measures to be taken to improve the situation.

 

At the end of 2007, Funasa pledged to complete the projects of four base stations (health stations which are closer to the villages) and to install solar refrigerators to keep vaccines and, after they are installed, to complete a serological investigation with indigenous peoples in the region. According to Funasa, these refrigerators have been already bought, but only one of the new stations is actually being built (the others are expected to begin to be built in late January). Funasa argued that the occupation of Funasa’s Regional Coordination Office in the state of Amazonas (Core/Amazonas), on December 2007, has delayed the building activities.

 

In Civaja’s opinion, what actually happened is that another document was signed without any practical results. About 3,000 indigenous people from the Marubo, Mayuruna, Matis, Kanamary, and Kulina peoples live in the Javari Valley, as well as some other non-contacted groups. 

 

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At least 48 indigenous people were murdered in 2007, 48 of whom in the state of mato grosso do sul

 

At least 76 indigenous people were murdered in 2007. This was the figure calculated in a preliminary survey carried out by the Indianist Missionary Council (Cimi). As compared to the figures registered in 2006 (48), there was an increase of 63%. Of all the homicides registered last year, 48 took place in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The state with the second highest number of murders is Pernambuco, where 8 indigenous people were murdered.

 

The number of murders in 2007 was the highest recorded by Cimi since 1988, when the entity began to prepare the Report on Violence against Indigenous Peoples in Brazil. In April, Cimi will disseminate this Report together with some data on violations of indigenous peoples’ rights in 2006 and 2007. This report will present figures on threats, attempts of murder, deaths caused by lack of assistance (suicide, lack of medical treatment…), invasions of indigenous lands, and on other facts of a similar nature. It will also analyze the increasing violence against indigenous peoples. This survey will be based on information provided by indigenous communities and on information disseminated in newspapers from all over the country.

 

Genocide in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul

The number of murders in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul grew by almost 150% as compared to the data registered in 2006 (20). Cimi still believes that the main reason for this increasing violence is the confinement imposed on indigenous people who live in the state, mainly the Guarani people. This can be confirmed when we analyze that of the 48 murders occurred in the state, 14 took place in the municipality of Dourados, which is characterized by the highest concentration of indigenous people per hectare.

 

The cases registered in 2007 also reveal that murders resulting from conflicts with large farmers still prevail. Two indigenous leaders from the same Guarani group were murdered last year as they were trying to reoccupy their land (Kurussu Ambá). In January, faith healer Xurete Lopes, 70, was murdered by private security guards during the reoccupation of an indigenous land. Ortiz Lopes, from the same group, was murdered in front of his shack in July and, according to witnesses, a farmer hired gunmen to kill him.

 

On the other hand, no indigenous area was declared an indigenous land for the Guarani people in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in 2007, despite the promises made by the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai) in recent years that they would be given special attention because of the serious situation they are facing.

 

Early in 2008, Cimi reaffirmed its evaluation published in the Social Network’s Human Rights Report. “It is difficult to understand why this cruel process of exterminating all indigenous people continues in front of the eyes of the national society, of federal and state governments, of the institutions of the Republic, and of the official indigenist agency, without any effective measures being taken to stop it.”

 

 

Brasília, January 10, 2008

www.cimi.org.br

Indianist Missionary Council