What you must know as well

about the land conflict between Tupinikim/Guarani Indians and Aracruz Celulose

 

Present situation

Desperate with the possible decision of the Brazilian government in favor of the Tupinikim/Guarani land claim, Aracruz is now practicing the crime of ethnical prejudice and racism against the Tupinikim/Guarani communities

 

On 12 September 2006, the Brazilian Minister of Justice, Márcio Thomaz Bastos, received from the FUNAI (National Indigenist Foundation)[1] the recommendation to declare 11,009 hectares of lands in Espirito Santo as Tupinikim/Guarani indigenous territories. To justify this recommendation, FUNAI sent to the Minister four anthropological reports realized since 1994, as well as the opinion papers in which they reject the challenges presented by Aracruz Celulose both in 1998 and in 2006.

 

The Minister of Justice has a legal period of 30 days to decide on the issue, according to decree 1.775/1996 that rules about the administrative procedure for demarcation of indigenous lands. This means that the Minister has an historical opportunity to correct the error of ex-Minister of Justice Iris Rezende in 1998 – the reduction of the  Tupinikim/Guarani territory – , proven by the Federal Public Prosecution Service of Espirito Santo in May 2005, and finally solve the land conflict between Aracruz and the indigenous communities.

 

In a desperate attempt to maintain the possession of the 11,009 ha of indigenous lands, Aracruz is now carrying out its latest propaganda campaign by which they try to urge their (out-sourced) workers, students of schools and private universities and the regional population in general, to declare themselves against the indigenous communities. Central message is that the Indians, especially the Tupinikim, who are native from this region, are supposed to never inhabited the region and actually have nothing to do with Indians.

Thousands of workers were encouraged to demonstrate against the Indians in the town of Aracruz on 15 September. Aracruz also put its discriminatory information in a folder and on internet in Portuguese and English, while also enormous outdoors with discriminatory sentences are spread in the town of Aracruz, such as:

 

“Aracruz brought progress, FUNAI brought the Indians”

 

Result of this campaign of Aracruz is that Indians are being discriminated now on the streets, in shops and at schools in the town of Aracruz. The State and Federal Public Prosecution Services have started investigations, based on the written appeals of Human Rights Organizations from the municipal of Aracruz and the state of Espirito Santo.

 

Law 7.716/1989, that deals with crimes resulting from prejudice regarding race or color, determines that the practice, the induction and the incitement of ethnic prejudice is considered crime, and the responsible persons/companies must undergo punishment, signifying prison from 1 to 3 years and a fine.

 

For More Information:

FASE/ES – + 55 27 3322 6330 / +55 27 32237436

Email: [email protected]  (webpage: www.fase.org.br)

 

Some important historical facts

 

– 1500: about 1000 indigenous peoples, in total 6 million people live in Brazil. About 55,000 Tupinikim live in Espirito Santo and South of Bahia. [2]

 

– 1557: several travelers (Jean de Léry, Gabriel de Souza) register the presence of the Tupinikim in the Aracruz region.[3]

 

– 1610: Tupinikim Indians receive land from the Portuguese Crown, a so-called “Sesmaria” that includes the area identified by the FUNAI in Aracruz.

 

– 1760: The “Sesmaria” is officially demarcated.

 

– 1818: Auguste Saint-Hillaire, French botanist registers the presence of the Tupinikim in the Aracruz region. [4]

 

– 1860: Emperor Dom Pedro II writes in his diary about the contact with the Tupinikim in the Aracruz region.[5]

 

– 1924: The SPI (state service for Indians – in 1967 transformed in FUNAI) identifies the presence of Tupinikim in the Aracruz region.

 

– 1960: The Tupinikim live in about 40 villages in the Aracruz region, with abundant natural resources (forest, rivers), living from agriculture, collection of fruits and materials, producing handicraft, agriculture, fishery, hunting, etc.

 

– 1966: The Guarani arrive, walking from the South of Brazil looking for the “Land without Evil”, a land with clean water, forests, fish, animals, etc. to realize their way of living. They found this in the municipal of Aracruz, because they arrived just before Aracruz Celulose in the region.

 

– 1967: Aracruz Florestal (afterwards Aracruz Celulose), supported by military dictatorship, invades the indigenous lands; the company uses individuals like ex-mayor Primo Bitti to register the lands in their names and then pass over to the company; most Indians were expelled to nearby towns or to the three village that resisted,  and thousands of hectares of native forest were deforested.

 

– 1978: Aracruz opens the first pulp mill, constructed on the place of a destructed Tupinikim village called “Monkeys” (Macacos).

 

– 1979: Tupinikim and Guarani starts the first occupation of their lands invaded by Aracruz.

 

– 1980: Tupinikim and Guarani realize the first self-demarcation, because of the slowness of the military dictatorship in demarcating 6,500 hectares.

 

– 1981: Aracruz puts pressure on the government and only 4,491 hectares are being demarcated as indigenous Tupinikim/Guarani lands.

 

– 1988: The new Brazilian Federal Constitution strengthens in Articles 231 and 232 the commitment of Brazilian society with the recognition of Indigenous (land) Rights and also “Quilombola”[6] Rights (Art. 68), repairing violence committed in the past and intending to be a plural-ethnical and multicultural society.

 

– 1993: Tupinikim and Guarani ask for the realization by the FUNAI of new studies about the limits of their lands, based on anthropological and land studies. The Commission of Tupinikim and Guarani Chiefs and Leaders is formed and starts to conduct the land struggle.

 

– 1994-1998: FUNAI carries out three official studies that all recognize 18,070 ha as lands that must be demarcated for the “physical and cultural survival of the Tupinikim and Guarani in Espirito Santo”.

 

– 1998:

+ Ex-Minister of Justice Iris Rezende accepts the FUNAI-studies but decides to declare only 7,061 ha indigenous lands;

+ Reacting on this, Tupinikim and Guarani carry out their second self-demarcation of their lands;

+ The Federal Police intervenes and the indigenous villages are isolated while leaders are being transported to the capital Brasília and forced to negotiate and sign an agreement with Aracruz Celulose in which they accept the decision of Iris Resende in exchange for social projects;

+ The Federal Public Prosecution Service withdraws from this Agreement and declares it illegal.

 

– 2005:

+ The Tupinikim and Guarani decide to struggle again for their lands;

+ The Commission of Chiefs and Leaders asks for the support of the Federal Public Prosecution Service in Espirito Santo; after having verified irregularities in the demarcation procedure of 1998, this service recommends to the Minister of Justice and the President of the Republic to demarcate and formally register the 11,009 hectares in dispute, repairing the error committed in 1998 and complying with the Brazilian Constitution.

+ The Tupinikim and Guarani carry out the third self-demarcation of  the 18,070 ha, identified by the FUNAI-studies and ask the Minister to demarcate immediately the 11,009 ha.

+ FUNAI re-opens the case and carries out a complementary study (GT 1.299/2005)

 

– 2006:

+ An illegal and coward action of the Federal Police, together with Aracruz Celulose, destroyed on 20th January two indigenous villages and wounded 13 indigenous people; the Federal Public Prosecution Service investigated the many illegalities in this operation and is processing the Brazilian State to repair the physical and moral damages caused to the indigenous communities; Indians meet with President Lula and the Minister of Justice.

+ FUNAI publishes the study of GT 1.299/2005 on 20^th February, opening a period of 90 days for Aracruz to challenge the report; Aracruz gains more 30 days to prepare its challenge and finally at 20th June presented it to the FUNAI; FUNAI analyzed this challenge and judged it groundless.

+ at 12 September, with 22 days of delay, FUNAI sends the whole documentation to the Minister, recommending demarcation of the indigenous lands.

 

 

Some other important information:

 

– Quilombolas:

Aracruz Celulose not only invaded indigenous lands but also quilombola´s lands, expelling around 8.500 families of their territory. There are still 1.500 families in 34 “quilombola” communities in São Mateus and Conceição da Barra (North of Espirito Santo). They also have constitutional rights to their lands and struggle for their demarcation.

 

– Employment:

+ False affirmations: The present propaganda campaign of Aracruz declares that Aracruz at present creates 100,000 direct and indirect jobs, while suggesting that the Indians will be responsible for unemployment.

+ The facts: according to official data of the company in 2004, Aracruz had only  2,031 direct workers and 6,776 indirect workers. The dismissal process in this sector over the past 15 years has been a result of the mechanization of the production process. While Aracruz creates 1 direct job in 122 hectares of eucalyptus, family agriculture is capable of creating 1 job in 1 hectare of agricultural crop. Finally, the Indians are claiming 11,009 hectares of a company that has 247,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantations and continues growing with a profit of about 500 million US$  in 2005.

 

– New pulp mills:

+ False affirmations: The present propaganda campaign of Aracruz Celulose declares that the decision not to construct the new pulp mill in Espírito Santo but in Rio Grande do Sul is taken because of the land struggle of the Tupinikim/Guarani.

+ The facts: Since Aracruz bought the Riocell pulp mill and plantations in Rio Grande do Sul in 2003, they are planning and announcing locally that they intend to buy 50,000 hectares of lands for new plantations and constructing a new pulp mill in that state. Accusing the Indians for this decision is nothing more than a dangerous form of blackmailing the regional population, creating a climate of insecurity among the workers and population, and stimulating acts of discrimination  and racism.

 

– Deforestation:

+ False affirmation: Aracruz does not deforest land, they preserve the native forest.

+ The facts: Besides the deforestation in the past, witnessed by the generation of Tupinikim and Guarani Indians of 45 years and older, deforestation has not stopped yet. In July 2006, Aracruz was fined by the Federal Environmental Agency for deforestation in the municipality of Linhares. Photographs prove this environmental crime, which was only stopped by the mobilization of the local population.

 

– Financing of Election Campaigns:

Aracruz Celulose finances election campaigns, aiming to have a better control over the President, Governors, federal and state parliamentarians, mayors and members of local town councils. If you want to know who is officially being financed by Aracruz, you can access www.tse.gov.br