In a press conference held today, April 30, in the morning, indigenous leaders from Roraima said they believe that the Supreme Federal Court (STF) will decide in favor of indigenous peoples living in the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous land, in the northwest region of the state. They also provided a report of the tension facing indigenous peoples in that region.

 

Since the STF suspended on April 9, through a preliminary decision, the removal of invaders from the indigenous land, indigenous leaders have been in Brasília negotiating the possibility of holding meetings with representatives of the three Branches to discuss issues related to the official confirmation of the bounds of the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous land.

 

During the interview, Dionito Makuxi, coordinator of the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR), said that “we are not here to fight only for the rights of indigenous peoples living in the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous land, but for the rights of indigenous peoples as a whole. If the authorities fail to comply with the rights of the indigenous peoples from Raposa do Sol, a precedent will be set to disregard the rights of all Brazilian indigenous peoples.”

 

Indigenous leaders have been worried with the possibility that the STF may suspend the official confirmation of the bounds of the indigenous land. Yet, they said they trust in the power of discernment of the justices to do justice. “We believe that the Supreme Federal Court will officially recognize this right, since it determined that the indigenous land was to be demarcated and to have its bounds officially confirmed,” said the Makuxi leader, referring to decisions made by the STF in 2005, which ensured the official confirmation of the bounds of the indigenous land.

 

Dionito also clarified some arguments used by anti-indigenous sectors that the official confirmation of the bounds of the indigenous land in a continuous area poses a threat to the national sovereignty. “Rice farmer Paulo César Quatiero invaded the indigenous land, doesn’t pay a cent to the state, destroyed bridges, set fire to indigenous people’s houses… and they say that indigenous people are a threat to the Brazilian sovereignty? We are not foreigners, we are Brazilians. This is our house, and we will take care of it by preserving nature, our forests, our rivers. We believe that in doing so we are defending our country,” Dionito concluded.

 

Another person who spoke during the interview was José Lourenço Wapichana, from the Association of Indigenous Peoples from the São Marcos Land, located near the Raposa do Sol land. “We came here to support the indigenous peoples from the Raposa land, since the confusion caused by Quartiero also affects the São Marcos land and if the STF does not decide in favor of them, we will also be affected.” 

 

Within the next two months, the Supreme Federal Court will be judging the grounds of a Popular Action requesting the annulment of Administrative Ruling n. 534, dated April 2005, which declared the area an indigenous land. The Office of the Attorney General referred yesterday, April 29, its opinion to the STF, considering the official confirmation of the bounds of the Raposa Serra do Sol in a continuous area as valid.

 

Ten other indigenous leaders from CIR, Sodiur, Alidecir, Apitsm, Apir, Opir and Cecac, in addition to the organizations which make up the Forum in Defense of Indigenous Rights – FDDI, attended the press conference.

 

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ANTI-INDIGENOUS DEMONSTRATIONS ARE HELD AGAINST DEMARCATION OF LANDS OF THE GUARANI KAIOWÁ PEOPLE IN THE STATE OF MATO GROSSO DO SUL

 

In the past few weeks, politicians and farmers who oppose indigenous interests have been reacting against a decision of the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai) to carry out anthropological studies on 36 indigenous lands of the Guarani Kaiowá people in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. According to a Conduct Adjustment Term (TAC) signed in November 2007, the activities are to begin in the first week of May.

 

The TAC was signed by the Ministry of Justice, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai) and 23 indigenous leaders. According to it, the activities of six Technical Groups that will identify and set the bounds of 36 lands of the Guarani Kaiowá people in the South of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul are scheduled to begin next week.

 

Meanwhile, parliamentarians and government representatives of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul have been organizing themselves with the aim of preventing these activities from being carried out. On April 8, fifteen state representatives disseminated a manifest against the recognition of the indigenous lands.

 

The parliamentarians believe that the Guarani Kaiowá people have no right to return to the lands from which they were expelled by farmers. “The demarcation of private lands instead of indigenous lands constitutes an offense against property rights and against the due process and control of the judicial power, that is, it is an offense against legal security and the democratic rule-of-law state,” said the representatives in the manifest. In the region of the municipality of Dourados, where the lands to be identified are concentrated, the TAC has also been criticized by farmers and politicians who are against indigenous interests.

 

This TAC meets part of one of the main demands of Brazilian indigenous peoples, which is to have their lands demarcated. There are over 100 traditional lands of the Guarani Kaiowá people to be demarcated in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Today, less then a 1-ha area is available for each indigenous person to live in in all Guarani villages. Due to this confinement, high rates of suicide among about 40,000 Guarani Kaiowá have been registered, in addition to the fact that, in many of their villages, they have been starving. It is expected that the final deadline for delivering the TAC will be April 2010.