Newsletter n. 804 – – Squatters invade an indigenous village and make indigenous people hostage for two days in the state of Pará
Between February 19 and 21, seven indigenous people from the Tembé and an employee of the National Health Foundation (Funasa) were made hostage by hundreds of squatters who invaded the Itaho indigenous village, in the state of Pará, on Sunday (February 17).
Today (February 21) in the morning, Federal Police officers released the hostages, among whom Beto Tembé (son of a chief). In addition, they removed the invaders and arrested four people, among whom a former alderperson of the city of Garrafão do Norte (state of Pará), Manoel Evilásio. The people who were arrested were taken to a Federal Police prison facility in the state of Belém, and they will probably be prosecuted for keeping hostages in private incarceration and for conspiracy.
This is not the first time that the Alto Rio Guamá indigenous land, located near the municipality of Capitão Poço, is invaded. These invasions are being encouraged by local politicians and woodcutters who share interests in continuing to exploit timber in the area. Among them, Evilásio has been particularly active in creating tension between the Tembé and non-indigenous people. For electoral purposes, he has been telling the squatters that the Tembé people have no rights to their lands.
The Alto Rio Guamá area was confirmed as a 279,000-ha indigenous land in 1996. About 1,000 indigenous people live there, but they cannot enjoy exclusive possession of their land because it is constantly invaded. In 2003, a Conduct Adjustment Term was signed among the National Land Reform Institute (Incra), the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai) and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) with the aim of ensuring that the non-indigenous occupants will be resettled somewhere else and indemnified. Most of them accepted the proposal, but others, pressed by politicians, have been refusing to leave the area.
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Yanomami people report improper behavior of members of Mining Committee during their visits to indigenous communities in the state of Roraima
A report issued on February 15 reports improper behaviors of members of the Special Committee for Mining Activities inside Indigenous Lands of the Chamber of Representatives during their visits to Yanomami villages in the state of Roraima.
The representatives – among whom the chair of the Committee, Édio Lopes (Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement/state of Roraima), and its rapporteur, Eduardo Valverde (Workers’ Party-state of Rondônia) – paid quick visits to two indigenous villages on February 14 without informing them beforehand (disregarding the indigenous peoples’ right to be informed about such visits beforehand, as provided for in ILO’s Convention 169) and, in addition, they tried to convince indigenous people that their community would benefit if they authorized mining activities to be carried out inside their lands.
The Committee is in charge of discussing bill n. 1610 that regulates mineral exploitation inside indigenous lands. In a hearing held in 2007, it was agreed that the Committee was to visit indigenous areas with the aim of discussing the project with the indigenous peoples that may be affected by it.
After insisting a lot, two representatives from the Hutukara Yanomami Association (HAY) traveled with the representatives. The report disseminated by HAY reinforces how the Yanomami people are against mining activities inside their lands and criticizes the representatives who have been pressing and trying to manipulate these indigenous people.
During the first visit, to the Xirimihwiki indigenous village, the chair of the Committee explained that mining activities inside indigenous lands were permitted by the Federal Constitution and that they would help to improve indigenous peoples’ education and health.
Chief Paraná Yanomami was invited by the representatives to visit other countries, such as Canada and Australia, where mining activities are carried out inside some indigenous lands. “We are not interested. You have been telling us many lies, always deceiving us with your promises,” Paraná stressed.
Federal representative Márcio Junqueira (Democratic Party/state of Roraima), who according to HAY once worked as a miner in the Yanomami land, offered gifts such as knives of different sizes and a fishhook to Paraná Yanomami, but he would not accept them.
The National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai) and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office did not send any members to take part in the visits. Next week, the Yanomami leader Davi Kopinawa intends to travel to Brasília to present the report himself.
Visits to other indigenous peoples
The members of the Committee also tried to visit the Waimiri-Atroari people (in the state of Amazonas), but the visit had not been previously agreed upon with the indigenous community, that was in the middle of ritual festivities.
On February 16, the representatives met with representatives from the Cinta-Larga, Suruí, Tupari, Gavião and Arara peoples in the municipality of Cacoal (state of Rondônia). According to Macoça Pio, from the Cinta-Larga people, the meeting “wasn’t good,” because it was very short and the representatives did not visit clandestine mining sites or the actual indigenous land to check the problems they are facing there.
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Tarso Genro closes down a committee that was delaying land demarcation procedures in the state of Santa Catarina
On February 19, Minister of Justice Tarso Genro revoked an Administrative Ruling issued in September 2004 that created a Special Committee in charge of addressing indigenous issues in the state of Santa Catarina. This revoking had been requested by the National Commission for the Indigenous Policy (CNPI).
The Special Committee was set up by former minister Márcio Thomaz Bastos under pressure from governor Luiz Henrique and anti-indigenous sectors of the state of Santa Catarina. The committee was to carry out studies and to address indigenous issues in the state.
Since the Committee was set up, indigenous people from the state of Santa Catarina and from all over the country have been asking for it to be closed down, because this “state evaluation stage” is not contemplated in Decree n. 1775, which regulates land demarcation procedures. The Committee was one of the main obstacles for demarcating indigenous areas in the state during the four-year term of Thomaz Bastos.
Brasília, February 21, 2008.
