Newsletter n. 736
– Maninha Xukuru-Kariri died last Wednesday in the state of Alagoas
– After 19 years, murderers of Vicente Cañas will stand trial
Maninha Xukuru-Kariri died last Wednesday in the state OF Alagoas
Cimi mourningly reports the death of Maninha Xukuru-Kariri last Wednesday, the 11th, at 9:30 a.m. in the city of Palmeira dos Índios, state of Alagoas. According to the information we have so far, she was experiencing respiratory problems and had a heart failure and was not treated quickly enough in the hospital of that city.
Maninha took part in the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of the Northeast Region, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo (Apoinme) since the very first meetings of the entity. She was the first woman to take part in the coordination of Apoinme and she worked in the entity for 16 years. In 2005, she left the coordination of the entity but was invited to remain close to it advising the Articulation in its actions.
Maninha was paid special homage during the 6th Assembly of Apoinme, which was held in June 2005. During the assembly, Girleno Xocó, a companion in the indigenous struggle for many years, spoke about the importance of Maninha to the struggle of indigenous peoples in the northeast and east regions of Brazil. He said that she always attended meetings that lasted for days and took part in actions to reoccupy land areas and organize indigenous peoples. “Among all those men, she would say: ‘respect is a good thing and I like it.´And all of us learned a lot with this,” Girleno said.
Maninha was one of the 52 Brazilians which that the 1,000 Women Project nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. “Society tries to deny our indigenous origin. They took away our lands, our languages and our beliefs. Today, we know who we are, what our rights are and the position we want to occupy in history,” she said when she was nominated to the prize.
We will remember Maninha as a brave woman who was very concerned with the life of indigenous peoples, was engaged in all aspects of their struggle, and was actively involved in actions to ensure their right to their lands, education, and health care. The death of Maninha constitutes an irreparable loss for indigenous movement and social movements.
After 19 years, murderers of Vicente Cañas will stand trial
Nineteen years after the barbarian murder of Vicente Cañas Costa, a Jesuit missionary who lived with the Enawenê-Nawê people in the state of Mato Grosso, the man behind the murder and the two men who carried it out will stand trial. The trial is scheduled to begin on October 24 in Cuiabá, state of Mato Grosso, and it can set a remarkable example in the struggle to put an end to impunity in Brazil. The crime was committed because Cañas supported the demarcation of the Enawenê-Nawê land and worked to ensure the availability of health care services to these people.
Two other men who were also reportedly behind the crime have died already. The lawsuit against the third defendant expired because of his old age. Therefore, Ronaldo Antônio Osmar, a former chief of police in the city of Juína, where the crime was committed, Martinez Abadio da Silva and José Vicente da Silva will stand jury trial for aggravated homicide in exchange for money and in an ambush. The penalties for aggravated homicide can vary from twelve to thirty years in prison. Former chief of police Ronaldo will also be judged for aggravating circumstances, since it is believed that he promoted or organized a cooperation scheme for committing the crime, as he led the criminal activity of the other people involved in it.
Vicente Cañas lived with the Enawenê people for 10 years. He took part in the first contacts between the group and non-indigenous people in 1974. He accompanied them in their traditional fishing and agricultural activities and in other daily activities. In a region where verminosis was commonplace, he acted to prevent verminosis-related diseases. He organized immunization campaigns repeatedly to prevent infectious-contagious diseases such as measles, which decimated so many other indigenous groups in Brazil. The population of the Enawenê-Nawê amounted to 97 people when they were first contacted. Today, it amounts to 430 people.
He also fought for the demarcation of their traditional lands, which farmers who settled in the region coveted for, and was an official member of a Funai’s working group set up to identify their indigenous territory. For this reason, the competence for judging the defendants was transferred to a federal court.
After receiving death threats because of his commitment to ensuring the survival of the Enawenê-Nawê people, Vicente Cañas was a victim of the ambition and violence of farmers, who stabbed him to death in 1987 as he was getting ready to visit an indigenous village to take medicines there. His murderers left him agonizing in pain in front of his tent and ran away through trails in the forest to the farm of one of the men who hired them to kill him. His body was found only about forty days later. The investigations lasted for six years and the fact that the defendants were involved was revealed by indigenous people belonging to the Rikbaktsa group (canoeiros), who live in lands close to those of the Enawenê-Nawê.
Cimi calls on all pastoral and social movements to spread the word about this trial and invites all people who want the defendants to be punished for their crimes to be present at the Auditorium of the Federal Court of Cuiabá at 8:00 a.m. on October 24 to show the importance of this trial to putting an end to impunity.
Brasília, October 11, 2006
Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council
