In this newsletter:

• Process for the official confirmation of the bounds of the Javaé and Karajá land is lost as a result of the red tape of the indigenous policy
  
• Funai assumes the commitment to declare that Tupinikim and Guarani lands, located in the state of Espirito Santo, are indigenous lands

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PROCESS FOR THE OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION OF THE BOUNDS OF THE JAVAÉ AND KARAJÁ LAND IS LOST AS A RESULT OF THE RED TAPE OF THE INDIGENOUS POLICY

The last stage in the process of recognizing an indigenous land is the official confirmation of its bounds by the Brazilian State. For this to happen, the minister of Justice submits the relevant administrative documents to the President of the Republic for him to sign a decree for this purpose. The process related to the Iñawébohona land, which belongs to the Javaé and Karajá peoples and is located in the state of Tocantins, was submitted by minister Marcio Thomaz Bastos to the president for his signature on April 18 of this year. However, the bounds of land have not been officially confirmed so far. The process is stalled. It hasn’t reached the Office of the President of the Republic and was sent back to Funai.

 

The indigenous people who live in this land only became aware of these facts two days after pressuring politicians in Brasília to try and understand the causes of the delay to confirm the bounds of the land, which could have been explained to them two years ago.

 

Since August 2, they had been pressuring for an audience with the ministries of Justice and Environment, with the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai), and with the Brazilian environmental agency, Ibama. Only the ministry of Environment replied, saying that matter was not under its responsibility.

 

Even without scheduled meetings, 20 Javaé, Xerente and Karajá leaders came to the capital of the country. In the afternoon of the 9th, they headed to the ministry of Justice (MJ), which is located at Esplanada dos Ministérios (the square in Brasília where all ministries are located), to pressure for a meeting. They were successful in their efforts. The ministry of Justice instructed Funai to receive the group, which had a meeting with the president of the agency, Mércio Pereira Gomes. It was a surprise, since Funai senior officials have been adopting a policy of holding meetings with only very few indigenous groups.

 

The subject to be discussed with Funai and the ministry of Justice was the official confirmation of the bounds of the Iñawébohona land, located on the Bananal Island in the Araguaia river, state of Tocantins. The process for the demarcation of the land was referred to the ministry on August 12, 2003, and it was supposed to analyze it, confirm it, and submit it to the president of the republic 30 days later at the latest. If the process is not approved, it has to return it to Funai “based on a grounded arguments.”

 

During the meeting, Gomes could not tell the indigenous what was obstructing the process of the official confirmation of the bounds of the land. After three hours, many phone calls to the ministry of Justice and a lot of conversation, the president of the official indigenous agency admitted that the process had been return by the ministry of Justice to Funai. But nobody at Funai knew where the documents were. The process had been “lost.”

 

This Thursday morning, the indigenous people returned to Funai. They said they would not leave the agency without a copy of the process. After Funai officials looked for it for a long time, the process was found and they explained what nobody seemed to know: the process had been returned to Funai with a suggestion for a working group to be set up with Ibama and Funai representatives to clarify an issue raised by Ibama, which manages the Araguaia National Park created inside the indigenous land. 

 

The overlapping of the park on indigenous lands creates problems for the daily lives of indigenous communities, since Ibama imposes restrictions on how the area can be used. The most recent example was the imposition of restrictions on making electricity available in some villages, preventing the construction of an artesian well. Without electricity and the well, the Javaé people continue to drink water from a river that has been polluted by crops grown around the island. 

 

Funai had already expressed the opinion that the issues raised by the environmental agency should not prevent the official confirmation of the bounds of the land, because title deeds to indigenous lands are null. However, the legal department of the ministry of Justice once again recommended the creation of the working group in April 2005. Because Funai took no measures to set up the working group and neither questioned the suggestion made by the ministry of Justice, the process remained stalled – and lost – since May without any measures being taken by neither agency.

 

In an effort to solve the problem, the Javaé managed to schedule a meeting to be held on Friday, the 12th, with the presidents of Funai and Ibama and with representatives of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. They say they will not return to their village without making sure that concrete measures will be taken to confirm the bounds of their land.

 

 

FUNAI ASSUMES THE COMMITMENT TO DECLARE THAT TUPINIKIM AND GUARANI LANDS, LOCATED IN THE STATE OF ESPÍRITO SANTO, ARE INDIGENOUS LANDS

A public hearing on the situation of the lands of the Tupinikim and Guarani peoples in Espírito Santo was granted yesterday, the 10th, by the Human Rights and Minorities Committee of the Chamber of Representatives in Brasília. Part of the indigenous territory, which had been occupied by the Aracruz Cellulose transnational corporation and was being used to plant eucalyptus, was reoccupied by the indigenous people in May of this year. Since then, the indigenous people and the company have been fighting for the right to stay in land.

 

“We will not give up our right to stay in the land. We can talk about how the company will be indemnified for what it built or planted in it, but we will not leave the land,” said Antonio Carvalho, an indigenous person.

 

According to the indigenous people, the audience was aimed at ensuring the commitment made by Funai and the ministry of Justice to issue an administrative ruling recognizing the right of the indigenous people to occupy the area, which has been anthropologically recognized as an indigenous area. Roberto Lustosa, a Funai official, said that the agency intends take the necessary steps for the ruling to be issued, provided that it is not subject to any legal questioning. “The administrative ruling will only be issued after we can verify that it will not be legally challenged right after it is published.” According to him, the government thinks that the administrative ruling providing for the demarcation of the whole area, and not of just part of it, as provided for in another ruling that replaced the previous one, should be reissued: “The administrative ruling issued in 1998 did not challenged the anthropological report prepared by Funai,” he says.

 

The indigenous people began to rebuild their villages already and they want to remove the eucalyptus plantation from their land. The land, which is located in the municipality of Aracruz, in the state of Espírito Santo, was anthropologically identified by Funai in 1998 as an area covering about 18,000 hectares, but it was demarcated in islands totaling 7,061 hectares after an agreement was reached under which Aracruz had right to use part of the land in exchange for payments. The agreement, which was signed between indigenous people and the company under questionable conditions, was initially supported by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF). One month later, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office questioned the legitimacy of the agreement, since indigenous lands are, by definition, inalienable under the Constitution.

 

The audience was attended by indigenous leaders from the two peoples, representatives of Funai , the ministry of Justice, and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and a representative of the Aracruz Cellulose company, Carlos Alberto Roxo, who said that the company will file suit to ensure its right to stay in the land.

 

Brasília, 11 August  2005

Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council

www.cimi.org.br