Between March 15 and March 21, the national directorship of the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) and co-ordinators of the regions where the entity is active, have been meeting in Campo Grande (MS) to reaffirm their commitment and solidarity with the peoples of the region.

 

Together with the president of CIMI and bishop of the Prelature of the Xingu, Dom Erwin Kräutler, they have given their unconditional support to the struggle of the indigenous peoples for guarantee of their rights and especially to their lands.

 

This week, the Secretary General of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) Dom Dimas Lara Barbosa participates, together with CIMI, in this encounter of solidarity to the communities of the state, verifying intimately the situation to which these peoples are submitted.

The grave violations of human rights, confinement in small reserves, high indices of violence and infant mortality, the encampments of indigenous families at the sides of roads, in a reality of misery and lack of assistance were the reasons that led the group to decide to visit. At the beginning of the month, members of the Special Secretariat for Human Rights of the Office of the President of the Republic also visited these people and confirmed a degrading and miserable situation.

After analyzing the current situation of indigenous peoples in the state, members of CIMI reaffirm, in a public letter that "together with the bishops of the 5^th General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin American and Caribbean countries, the church is called to be advocate for justice and defender of the poor in the face of intolerable social and economic inequalities that cry out to heaven".

Also in the document, members of CIMI support the historical resistance of the indigenous peoples joining together with the silenced voices that scream for an end to impunity, an end to discrimination and an end to the absence of land and rights of these peoples.

 
Below the letter in full:

 

LETTER FROM CAMPO GRANDE:
SOLIDARITY WITH THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN

MATO GROSSO DO SUL

We denounce once again the grave violations of human rights that continue to be committed against the Kaiowá-Guarani people in Mato Grosso do Sul: confinement in small reserves, high levels of violence, infant mortality, families camped on the roadside, the reality of misery and lack of assistance.

Given this reality, the Indigenist Missionary Council (CIMI) met in Campo Grande to reaffirm their commitment and solidarity with the indigenous peoples of Mato Grosso do Sul, as well as to position themselves on an unrestricted basis in support of the struggle for guarantee of their rights, particularly their land as spaces of life and not of merchandise.

While politicians declare that this state will not be "land of Indians", we unite with those who say: "Mato Grosso do Sul is also the land of the Guarani Kaiowá, the Terena, the Kadiweu, the Ofaié, the Kinikinawa, the Guató”. There will only be justice, democracy and fraternity when the rights of all are assured, when the plurality of peoples is respected as a wealth and land again becomes a space of life and not just a commodity or object of production for enrichment of a few.

As the bishops of Mato Grosso do Sul have already denounced, "this deals with an unsustainable and unjust situation, the result of a consumer society that privileges profit, and whose solution, indefinitely delayed, does nothing but increase the anguish and revolt of all”. Even the Council for the Defense of the Human Person, the Special Secretariat for Human Rights of the Presidency of the Republic (SEDH), in visit to the indigenous communities in Mato Grosso do Sul at the beginning of the month, acknowledged that the indigenous peoples of the state live in a situation that is degrading and miserable. In many places they lack food and water. The peoples face problems from the lack of demarcation of their lands and constantly suffer discrimination and prejudice. Moreover, they are impeded from engaging basic activities of subsistence, such as fishing and hunting.

The certainty of impunity and the omission of federal and state governments are stimulants for such cruelty to continue and expand. Therefore, with the indigenous people of this state we demand investigation and rigorous punishment of this violence, as well as the immediate demarcation of all the indigenous lands. We position ourselves against palliative pretensions by farmers and some authorities such as purchase of land or transference of communities to distant regions, flagrant violations of constitutional rights of the indigenous peoples.

We join together with the voices of the bishops of the 5^th General Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean (2007), held in Aparecida (SP), that "the Church is called to be the advocate of justice and defender of the poor in the face of intolerable social and economic inequalities, that cry to heaven "(Document of Aparecida 395). It is possible to apply to the peoples of Mato Grosso do Sul what the bishops said in Aparecida: "Indigenous communities are found outside of their land because these were invaded and degraded. If they do not have sufficient land to develop their cultures, suffer grave attacks on their identity and survival […]" (DAp 90).

We reaffirm our commitment to the indigenous people of this state, we support their historical resistance, patience, wisdom and profound spirituality, which have allowed them to overcome centuries of war, extermination and oppression. With them we learn to build another world possible, necessary and best for all, firmly moving toward the definitive Kingdom.

CIMI, united with the silenced voice of the indigenous peoples, says stop the violence, stop the denial of the land, stop the impunity, enough of the intolerance! Land, Life, Justice and Peace for the indigenous peoples of Mato Grosso do Sul!

 
Campo Grande (MS), 18 March of 2010.

CIMI – Indigenist Missionary Council
An Organization linked to CNBB – National Conference of Bishops of Brazil