– Krahô-Kanela people return to their Mata Alagada land.  Creation of reservation depends on the ministry of Justice now

 

– Criminalization: 35 indigenous leaders are being prosecuted in the state of Pernambuco

 

Krahô-Kanela people return to their Mata Alagada land. Creation of reservation depends on the ministry of Justice now

 

“Twelve days ago, the Krahô-Kanela people returned to their Mata Alagada land. They are building canvas tents and sowing crops on the banks of the Formoso River, in the municipality of Lagoa da Confusão, state of Tocantins. The Krahô-Kanela took this action because they don’t believe in the promises made by the National Foundation for Indigenous People – Funai, which during a hearing held late in 2005 said that the community would be allowed to return to part of the Mata Alagada land by January 31, 2006,” said the Committee for the Demarcation of the Mata Alagada land in a note issued on August 9, in which it reports inadequate actions of Funai in the process of demarcating the Krahô-Kanela land and asks the ministry of Justice to speed up the process.

 

The ministry is now responsible for submitting a request for expropriating the Mata Alagada land to the Office of the President of the Republic for the purpose of creating an indigenous reservation there.

 

With the support from the National Land Reform Institute, Incra, creating an indigenous reservation in the same area where the land claimed by the Krahô-Kanela is located was the solution devised to ensure a land for these people, which for over 30 years have been moving from place to place as pilgrims in search of a place to live.

 

The Committee which signed the note includes representatives of over two dozen organizations which support the struggle of the Krahô-Kanela. These people are divided today, with families scattered throughout the state of Tocantins and a group of about 90 people living in a house in the municipality of Gurupi for the past two years without appropriate health or hygiene conditions. “The Krahô-Kanela people say that they had enough of this neglect and disrespect and that they will now grow their own food in their land. The community does not want to depend on campaigns and on donations of food baskets to survive any longer,” the note issued by the Committee adds.

 

The challenges to be faced by the Krahô-Kanela now include that of implementing a basic infrastructure and health and education policies in the reservation. “We have more than 25 adolescents and children who have not attended school in the first half of this year. The conditions faced by the community in the land are precarious. It is located at a long distance from any city and we have no infrastructure,” said leader Wagner Krahô-Kanela.

 

According to an agreement signed between Funai and Incra on December 15, 2005, the two farms which were expropriated constitute the first phase of the process of creating the reservation. “For organizing the rest of the area (…) extraordinary budget funds from Funai should be made available. For this purpose, a request will be submitted to the ministry of Justice,” says a document signed between the indigenous people and Funai in 2005 after a meeting attended by leaders of the Krahô-Kanela, representatives of Incra and Funai, and Senator Paulo Paim.

 

Criminalization: 35 indigenous leaders are being prosecuted in the state of Pernambuco

 

Thirty-five leaders of the Xukuru people are being prosecuted for having reacted to the murder of two young indigenous people and to an attempt to murder their chief. The depositions of the leaders to a federal court began on the 3rd of this month in the city of Caruaru, state of Pernambuco, and they will continue until August 24. Ten people have been heard already. They are being prosecuted under charges of having invaded homes, setting fire to them and damaging them and of having ordered the destruction of real estate items.

 

On February 7, 2003, an attempt against the life of chief Marcos Xukuru caused the death of two young people who were accompanying him and tried to defend him. In that incident, Josenílson José dos Santos and José Ademilson Barbosa da Silva, two indigenous people, were killed. José Lourival Frazão was prosecuted and sentenced to prison for the crime.

 

On the date of the incident, an outraged group of Xukuru went to the Cimbres village to demand explanations from the perpetrators of the crimes and their supporters. When they got there, they were shot at and four indigenous people were injured. Nobody is being prosecuted for this act.

 

In their investigations, the Federal Police and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office turned the victims of the incident into defendants: chief Marcos Xukuru is also being prosecuted based on the argument that he caused the conflict.

 

During the depositions this week, the defendants said that a crowd of about 2,000 people reacted against the murders and that although the leaders tried to control them, it was impossible to prevent them from expelling from the indigenous land the group that committed the acts, which is an ally of politicians and farmers of the region. The leaders also reported that they collaborated with the Military Police to allow the dissident group to be removed from the land.

 

Causes of the conflict

Since the 1980s, the Xukuru have been fighting against a project designed to create a structure for the Our Lady of Thanks Sanctuary, located inside the indigenous land, to become a religious tourist site. For this reason, Funai, members of the local Catholic Church and politicians of the region began to try and divide the people and to sponsor violent acts against the Xukuru.

 

On many occasions, government agencies in charge of indigenous issues were warned by traditional Xukuru leaders that the interests of political and economic groups which were alien to the indigenous people were creating a serious internal conflict among them.

 

 

Brasília, August 10, 2006