On May 28 around 300 families of the Terena people occupied a part of the territory they claim in the region of Miranda, Mato Grosso do Sul. With the land occupation they want to press the Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai) to continue the regularization process of their land. A group of Terena leaders went to Brasília to discuss their demands with the Funai.

 

‘The people are fed up, the community is upset, they can´t take it any longer!´ That is how one of the Terena leaders explained the land occupation. ‘Only a dozen of families are able to cultivate some land. The rest is forced to work in the sugarcane fields and sugar cane mills´.

About 5000 Terena live confined in 159 hectares, divided over the villages of Moreira (45 hectares) and Passarinho (114 hectares) in the periphery of Miranda, in the Pantanal. This is among the lowest indices of indigenous land per person.

 

The 31^st of May, the local judge Vânia de Paula Arantes ordered the reintegration of the property to its owner. Even though this was not by a federal authority (indigenous matters are a federal affair), the Terena left to avoid a confrontation with the police.

 

Pressure

After the desoccupation, a group of leaders left for Brasília to meet with Funai representatives to discuss the regularization of their territory. They question the fact that the anthropological studies, elaborated in the eighties and in 2000, never were finished, nor published.

In that meeting, the Funai promised to reinitiate the work of the identification taskforces of the Terena territory, sending the anthropologist to the area that had done the studies. The Terena wait to see whether the Funai fulfills this promise while preparing new ways to pressure the institution.

 

History

The history of this indigenous land is similar to various other indigenous areas in the region. Beginning ot the 20th century the Serviço de Proteção ao Índio (SPI) indicated 2000 hectares to a group of Terena families, close to the village of Miranda. The village grew into a city expanding over the indigenous land, reducing the indigenous area to 10% of its original size. The area turned into a ‘lushful green neighborhood´.

 

For years the Terena were considered as indigenous that acted within the space of the surrounding white society, such as state organs and universities. The last ten years, however, they changed their focus. The goal was not any longer the city, but the fight for the recovery of their traditional land of which they had been expulsed. That’s how started the reclaim Limão Verde, Buriti and Chachoeirinha-Mãe Terra before and now Passarinho e Moreira.

 

(information: Egon Heck – Cimi MS)