STF AND STJ UPHOLD PRELIMINARY ORDER WHICH REDUCES THE SIZE OF THE RAPOSA/SERRA DO SOL INDIGENOUS LAND

 

A new chapter has began in the struggle for the official confirmation of the bounds of the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous land. Like the associate judge of the Supreme Court (STF) Ellen Gracie, who last Friday rejected a request for suspending a preliminary order reducing the size of the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous land filed by attorney general Cláudio Fonteles, the chief justice of the Higher Court of Justice (STJ), Edson Vidigal, followed suit on Tuesday (the 6th) and rejected a request filed by the Federal Attorney’s Office (AGU).

 

Both the AGU and the Federal Prosecution Service requested the suspension of the decision of justice Selene Maria de Almeida of the federal court of appeals of the 1ª Region, which upheld and expanded the scope of a preliminary order issued by the Federal Judge of Roraima, Helder Girão Barreto, partially suspending the effects of Administrative Ruling 820/98 issued by the ministry of Justice. 

 

When analyzing the interlocutory appeals filed by the Federal Prosecution Service and the Maturuca indigenous community against the preliminary order issued by Barreto, judge Selene Maria went beyond her regular  duties and changed the decision of the judge and expanded the effects of the preliminary order by excluding a border strip from the area, which decision will remain effective until the National Defense Council is summoned to issue an opinion on the use of areas located along the border with Guyana and Venezuela and of an environmental conservation unit called National Roraima Mount Park. On the occasion of the STF request, the general attorney said that “both decisions are clearly unconstitutional in many regards.”

 

According to Cimi, the upholding of these preliminary decisions favors the interests of groups which oppose indigenous rights and of certain economic and political groups. However, these decisions are obstacles to be eliminated, since the right of indigenous people to lands traditionally occupied by them is unquestionable. 

 

Cimi will continue to support the struggle of the indigenous people living in the Raposa/Serra do Sol land and to reaffirm that this land has been traditionally occupied by about 15,000 indigenous people belonging to five ethnic groups, which is a fact already acknowledged by the government when it signed and published Administrative Ruling 820/98, which ensures the possession of 1.7 million hectares to the indigenous people living in them.

 

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS VISIT THE RAPOSA/SERRA DO SOL LAND IN SUPPORT OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

 

A group made up of 60 leaders of union, social, and environmental movements representing 21 civil society organizations of the state of Roraima visited this morning the Jauari village, which was recently built by indigenous people, to defend the official confirmation of the bounds of the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous land and prevent the expansion of rice crops in the area.

 

The Movement called “We Exist” has been organizing visits of ordinary citizens and representatives of civil society organizations to the area as a means to show to indigenous people and the population of Roraima at large that local social movements are concerned about how the bounds of the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous land will be actually confirmed and about the environmental damages caused by environmental degradation and the excessive use of pesticides in rice crops.

 

The delegation is made up of representatives of 17 unions linked to the Single Workers’ Union (CUT/state of Roraima) and to associations linked to the Amazonian Working Group (GTA/state of Roraima) It also includes leaders of  the Talher Estadual (Zero Hunger Program), of cooperatives of rural workers, and of the Diocese of Roraima.

 

In a note, the organizations ask “until when will economic interests prevail over the right to life, over human rights, and over the law?” (click here and to read the full document).  In addition to expressing their support to the official confirmation of the bounds of the land as a continuous area, the organizations call on the population of Roraima “not to accept further invitations to confrontations and to say no to the impunity which has been jeopardizing the regional development of the state and a future of peace and justice”.

 

Brasília, 8 July 2004

Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council