Tupinambá Cacique (Chief) Babau, Rosivaldo Ferreira da Silva, was arrested in the middle of the night on March 10 of 2010. He was sleeping in his Serra do Padeiro home, as were his wife and three year old son. In an illegal action, the Federal Police destroyed furniture and used extreme force to immobilize the Cacique when they invaded his residence located in the municipality of Buerarema in southern Bahia. He believed he was facing gunmen because the officers were camouflaged, their faces painted black. They did not present identification or an arrest warrant, and used verbal abuse and threats.

 

 

Slandering campaign

Babau is an important leader of his people, along with other caciques. Provocation of violence like this arrest, has been stimulated since publication of the identification and delimitation report for the Tupinambá Indigenous Land. This report was completed by a Technical Working Group constituted by the National Foundation for Indigenous Affairs (Funai), in compliance with Article 231 of the Federal Constitution of 1988, the Indian Statute and Decree 1775/96. Since then, the Tupinambá have been the target of an intense campaign of accusations, threats, homicide attempts, as well as suffering profound discrimination on the part of the local political and economic interests, which historically invade and destroy Tupinambá Indigenous Land. Personalities of the municipality have incited small-scale farmers, including through use of local media, to arm themselves and to attack the Tupinambá.

 

Torture 

The Federal Police have open inquiries for investigating these reports. As a consequence, an extremely aggressive action by the Federal Police in the village of Serra do Padeiro on October of 2008 left 14 Tupinambá injured by rubber bullets, homes and vehicles of the community destroyed, the indigenous school and its equipment ravaged and even school meals laid waste. Two Tupinambá were arrested on that occasion. In June of 2009, following another action by the Federal Police together with fazenda owners – in an eviction action – signs of torture on the bodies of five Tupinambá were verified by medical examinations conducted at the Medical Legal Institute of the Federal District, in Brasilia. The inquiry, assumed by the same police official who coordinated the action by the FP officers, in the mean time reported that no torture occurred. None of the agents were deactivated during or after the investigations.

 

No proofs

The preventive arrest of Babau by court order was at the request of the Federal Police, which investigates reports made primarily by fazenda owners or by their employees. Babau is recognized throughout the country as an important leader. Because of this high profile, he has been generically designated as the “author” of a variety of criminal acts in southern Bahia. In all known investigations, however, there is no indication – much less proof – that Babau has been the author of the supposed threats, homicide attempts, bodily injury, formation of a gang, arson and other accusations.

 

This being the case, if there was evidence of authorship, according to Brazilian law, the Ministério Público Federal (Office of the Federal Prosecutor) would require the arrest of the accused. The MPF Attorneys are convinced that Babau is not guilty of charges presented by Federal Police of Bahia, and they also refute the representation in the police opinion submitted to the judge in order to obtain the arrest warrent. The MPF has, to date, entered three writs of habeas corpus (HCs) in favor of Babau, calling for his immediate release.