GOVERNMENT NEGLIGENCE IN THE RATIFICATION OF Raposa/Serra do Sol land PAVES THE WAY FOR NEW OBSTACLES

 

On Monday (January 3), justice Ellen Gracie of the Supreme Federal Court suspended Administrative Ruling n. 820 issued by the Ministry of Justice, which had, in 1998, established the demarcation of the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous land as a continuous strip in Roraima.

 

As a result of this new court decision, obstacles preventing the ratification of the indigenous land as a continuous strip have returned. The decision of the justice must be reviewed in a plenary session of the Supreme Federal Court, which will reconvene in February. Until that time, the process of ratifying the bounds of the indigenous land will remain suspended.

 

Thus, just like during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government in 2003 and at the start of 2004, the Federal Government was negligent, and allowed the opportunity to ratify the Raposa/Serra do Sol land as a continuous strip to pass it by. This had been possible between December 15, when justice Carlos Ayres Britto suspended the court orders against Administrative Ruling n. 820, and January 3, 2005.

 

With the 2005 budget negotiations and the maintenance of the wide base which sustains the government, which includes regional oligarchies, large landowners and other interested parties, once again recognition of the rights of the indigenous people of Raposa Serra do Sol has been delayed.

 

Every time this decision is postponed, the offensive of the anti-indigenous sectors against the constitutional rights acquired by Brazilian peoples gains intensity. Information has reached us from Roraima according to which rice farmers are already planning to invade more indigenous lands with their plantations. The scenario of threats of violence against the indigenous people continues likely in the region.

 

Ratification of indigenous lands creates, in the majority of cases, tension in the political game with the country’s oligarchic sectors.

 

Not even the appeals of Brazilian civil society, CNBB or international bodies such as the OAS, which asked the Brazilian government to adopt precautionary measures to safeguard indigenous rights, seem to have been enough for the government.

 

According to a newspaper in Roraima, in a meeting held at the Presidential Office yesterday with the State Governor, Ottomar Pinto (PTB), minister Aldo Rebelo, senators Mozarildo Cavalcanti (PPS) and Augusto Botelho (PDT), and federal deputies from Roraima, the President stated that the final decision on demarcation would be close to a consensus and nobody would be taken by surprise.

 

The rights of indigenous people, which have already been recognized by the Brazilian state in the Federal Constitution and confirmed by the Minister of Justice, have been brought back into the political arena to be discussed again, with a predetermined result going against the indigenous, due to the dispute between unequal forces.

 

A process of rights negotiation, when the law of the strongest always dominates, has therefore begun. The first question asked of the indigenous people concerns how great a part of their rights they would be willing to give up. To force through an agreement, the weaker party is subjected to all types of pressure. At local level, this strategy reveals its cruelest side with indigenous people getting injured or even shot dead, the destruction of communal houses, and the kidnapping of religious people in the Diocese of Roraima, who are known for their position in favor of the indigenous cause together with the negligence of the authorities.

 

There is no doubt about the historic presence of indigenous people in the Raposa/Serra do Sol land, but there is a strong economic interest in the indigenous land.

 

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OCCUPY FUNAI HEADQUARTERS IN MANAUS. INSTITUTION HAS REQUESTED REposseSSION

 

Since last Monday (January 3), indigenous people have been occupying the headquarters of the National Indigenous Foundation in Manaus in the state of Amazonas to request the demarcation of indigenous lands under the operational responsibility of Funai’s Regional Administration in Manaus. They are also asking for the substitution of the current manager of the foundation, Benedito Rangel de Moraes. The indigenous people allege bad management and hold the manager responsible for not investigating cases of rape against indigenous women that were carried out by employees of the regional institution in Manaus.

 

The National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai) has appealed to the courts with a request to repossess the headquarters in Manaus. According to the Agência Brasil News Agency, the interim president of Funai, Roberto Lustosa, has said that an inquiry would be opened to investigate these claims. Lustosa added, however, that he would not negotiate with the indigenous people whilst they remained in the foundation’s headquarters in Manaus.

 

The indigenous people have confirmed that they will only leave the building in the presence of the president of Funai, Mercio Pereira Gomes. According to Benjamim Baniwa, an indigenous person, Pereira Gomes said this morning that he will not go to Manaus. “He said that he will not come because he considers this to be an invasion and has already asked for the building to be repossessed.”

 

The indigenous people are looking for interlocutors to prevent the Federal Police from entering the building. “We are waiting for Senator Jefferson Peres and state deputies to try and find a solution. The behavior of Rangel and the president, who ought to be defending the interests of indigenous people, in calling the police is strange”, Baniwa argues.

 

Baniwa also said that the movement, which started off with 32 indigenous members of the Mura people, now involves 130 indigenous people from 10 ethnic groups from the state of Amazonas. Some of the peoples present live up to 600km from Manaus and, as new peoples arrive, the accusations against the regional manager are increasing.

 

“Rangel can no longer continue in a management role. There is no way that he can go into indigenous areas. He will not be allowed to go to my region [the municipality of Barcelos, state of Amazonas],” the member of the Baniwa indigenous people stated.

 

Brasília, 6 January 2005.

 

Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council