Newsletter 880: Guarani Kaiowá families dispossessed of traditional land in Mato Grosso do Sul
CIMI and representatives of several social movements in the state were present in solidarity. “The departure was tranquil, but the people are very sad, indignant about having to leave the land were they were living”, reports Egon Heck, coordinator of CIMI-MS.
“We comply with the court order, but what if a child is hit by a car? I will charge the representative!” warns Farid Guarani, one of the women leaders of the community and indignant about the action. There are 60 children and adolescents. In recent months, two children have died and three youths have committed suicide in this village. “They say that the demarcation study will begin in a week”, Farid declares, still hopeful.
Two years of humanitarian aid impeded
The community has also been under constant armed surveillance by private security forces hired by the titleholder to the land. The proprietor has also stopped the authorities to enter the area. Several times medical teams from the National Health Foundation (Funasa) were unable to enter and attend sick persons. For two children attendance came too late which caused their death. The National Foundation for Indigenous Affairs (Funai) was not allowed to enter and could only deliver the basic food baskets at the side of the road, handed over the fence.
The children had to walk 4 kilometers to the BR-163, as the school bus was forbidden to enter the area.
The constant pressure, threat of eviction and lack of social assistance motivated three youngsters to commit suicide.
Federal Prosecutor: “improper titling”
According to Federal Prosecutor Marco Antonio Delfino de Almeida, “There has been undue granting of titles [of rural properties] in the past by the authorities. The government was not empowered to title these lands, it titled, and now it is going to have to compensate these people”, explained Delfino, emphasizing that a historic mistake was committed, in which indigenous peoples were induced to live on reduced areas of the reserves. “There is on the part of the federal government an undeniable obligation for reparation to this population”, he said. He further noted that the state government also issued documents of possession to producers in the region and will have to grapple with any indemnifications.
In the same September 10 statement, Delfino clarified the situation saying, “What Mato Grosso do Sul society needs to understand is that this process of demarcation does not turn back. There is no possibility of sweeping 40 thousand indigenous people under the rug. The humanitarian demand is very grave.”
Process in the courts
The (initial) order for reintegration of possession to the title-holder of the occupied area was issued by the Federal Court of Dourados. The Funai and the Federal Public Ministry (MPF- Ministério Público Federal of Mato Grosso do Sul) appealed in the TRF3 (Tribunal Regional Federal – 3rd Region). On May 26, the Federal Appeals Court Judge of the TRF3, Marli Ferreira, suspended the order for reintegration and granted 90 days for the community to remain in the area.
During this period, the Funai was to have conducted the studies to identify if the area occupied is traditional Guarani territory. However the studies did not take place. Besides the climate of harassment of the Funai anthropologists that persists in Mato Grosso do Sul, the TRF3 issued a decision to suspend all studies by the Funai Working Groups assigned for the land identification of any indigenous area in Mato Grosso do Sul.
The Kaiowá Guarani group resumed habitation of their lands at the end of 2007, after spending nearly two years camped at the side of the road. Prior to this, they had been expulsed by gunmen from another area that is also traditional land of the people.
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SUPERIOR COURT ANNULS PRISON SENTENCE OF PATAXÓ CACIQUE (in Bahia) AND TRANSFERS JAILED XUKURU LEADER (in Pernambuco) TO INDIGENOUS LAND
In the second week of September Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) handed down two important decisions in cases involving indigenous leaders of the Xukuru and Pataxó peoples.
Xukuru
On 8 September, the 5th circuit of the STJ decided that Rinaldo Vieira, of the Xukuru people, and jailed since March 2008 in Caruaru, is to be transferred to the National Foundation for Indigenous Affairs (Funai) post for the Xukuru in Pernambuco. Rinaldo Vieira was accused of involvement in the murder of Xukuru José Lindomar de Santana. He was accused by eyewitnesses of the crime together with Edmilson Guimarães, also Xukuru, and in a trial by jury, found guilty of the crime. This testimony is questioned because the crime occurred at 2am under darkness of a new moon and cloud cover in an area without public illumination. Besides this, the real shooters wore helmets. Rinaldo and Edmilson Guimarães have fixed residences and good prior records. All the same, they have been in preventive imprisonment for the past year.
Pataxó
On 1 September, the same court unanimously annulled the preventive imprisonment of Pataxó Cacique (chief), Joel Braz, who has been in prison since 2006, in the Pataxó Funai post in southern Bahia. The penal action against the cacique occurred in the Common Court Jurisdiction of Itamaraju (Bahia). However, the 5th circuit of the STJ decided that the case should be judged by the Federal Court. With this, the case will be reopened and therefore, all findings are annulled, among them the preventive imprisonment. The defense had requested this transfer of competence in 2006 because the crime for which Joel is accused occurred within a context of territorial dispute.
The annulment of the prison sentence was to have been carried out immediately, however cacique Joel Braz still remains jailed eight days after the judgment. The communiqué from the STJ is not being located in the jurisdiction of the Tribunal de Justiça of Bahia and hence the official information has still not arrived in the District Court of Itamaraju. The attorneys for Joel have already petitioned the STJ for direct communication of the decision to the district court of Itamaraju, so that the cacique be set at liberty as soon as possible. This will also diminish the anguish and tension that has weighed on the Pataxó community since his imprisonment.
Defense for Joel Braz are attorneys Cláudio Luiz Beirão, Paulo Machado Guimarães, Michael Mary Nolan and Denise da Veiga Alves.
Brasília, 10 September of 2009
Indigenist Missionary Council
