– Hunger, tension and death in Porto Cambira, state of Mato Grosso do Sul

– Tupinikim and Guarani are in Brasília to demand a decision from the Ministry of Justice

– Cimi requests solidarity from people and organizations in the trial of the Vicente Cañas case

 

Hunger, tension and death in Passo Piraju, state of Mato Grosso do Sul

 

In the morning of last Wednesday, October 11, Plácida de Oliveira and Teresa Murilha left their village, Passo Piraju, in Porto Cambira, to go to the municipality of Dourados to request legal assistance from Funai to get a legal grant provided to dependants of people in jail who do not receive any remuneration from the social security system.

 

The husbands of both of them and seven other members of the Kaiowá Guarani people in Passo Piraju were arbitrarily arrested on April 4 of this year after reacting against a raid of police officers, dressed in plain clothes, in their community on April 1 without a warrant. The raid was carried out regardless of the fact that, in February of this year, a working group of the Public Safety Secretariat made up of representatives of public safety agencies of the state, of Funai, of Funasa, of the City Hall of Dourados, and of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, determined that any police actions inside conflict areas occupied by indigenous people should involve Funai officials through the Sucuri (Anaconda) Operation. The Passo Piraju community occupies a 60-hectare area, and although its members have been claiming their rights and protesting against acts of violence for years, no steps for identifying the land have been taken so far.

 

On the day that Teresa and Plácida went to the city, basic sets of food products were distributed in their community under the hunger combat program. Because only the beneficiaries themselves can receive the basic food baskets after signing a receipt, nobody could receive them for Plácida and Teresa. Knowing how the two depend on this benefit, community members asked the government agents to give them the food baskets or wait until they arrived. However, inspectors of the Electoral Court who monitor the distribution of the food baskets during election periods did not authorize the delivery. The whole community was outraged when its members saw that the two women would be left without any food. But this is what the law determines, these are rules to avoid frauds or the use of these food baskets for electoral purposes or for buying votes.

 

The two women were desperate when they returned to the city and were informed that the food baskets had been distributed while they were absent from the village.

 

The situation is very difficult in Passo Piraju. After the arrests in April, the community felt pressured and scared with the way they were reported by newspapers of the region. Many community members left the village after being discriminated by people living in the city and because they were tired of being threatened constantly.

 

People who used to buy the small crop surpluses of the community in the village have not been doing so any longer. Without money, the Indians have no means to buy basic hygiene products that are not included in the food baskets.

 

Without men in the village to repair their huts, those that are falling apart as a result of the heavy rains that characterize this season, are not being rebuilt, and at least one-third of them collapsed. 

 

Plácida, a woman who is about 50 years old and is more used to facing so much suffering, decided simply to accept the situation. Teresa, a 22-year-old young woman, mother of four children, the oldest of whom is seven years old and the youngest one six months, refused to accept it. After knowing that she would not receive the food basket, Teresa didn’t know what to do. She requested advice from the elders, but they did not bring her any hope in practice.

 

Without food to give to her children and living in a hut without protection from the rain, she told Mrs. Plácida that she had decided to leave the village. Mrs. Plácida asked her to stay, but she had already made up her mind.

 

In the morning of last Friday, the oldest son of Teresa ran through the community crying for help. Teresa was found by her relatives in what had been left of her hut hanging a little one meter above the ground from a rope tied to her neck and to a wood that supported the roof, without tiles, of her hut.

 

According to the report called “Violence against indigenous peoples in Brazil”, 68 members of the Guarani Kaiowá people committed suicide between 2003 and 2005 in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The report mentions that the main cause of these deaths is the lack of land. According to studies carried out by the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai), over 100 Guarani Kaiowá traditional lands are still waiting their demarcation procedures to start.

 

 

TUPINIKIM AND GUARANI ARE IN BRASÍLIA TO DEMAND DECISION FROM THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE

 

Four leaders of the Tupinikim and Gurani peoples arrived in Brasília on Thursday, the 19th, to hold meetings at the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office.

 

At the Ministry of Justice, the indigenous people were informed by its legal advisory department that the technical report which must be prepared by the legal advisors of the ministry was not ready yet and, therefore, had not been submitted to the minister of Justice. The person in charge for such reports at the ministry, Luciana Schettini, said that this case is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Justice. The legal deadline for the minister of Justice to make a decision in relation to the report identifying the land expired on October 12.

 

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office, through the deputy attorney in charge of matters related to the state of Espírito Santo, Dr. Eugênio Aragão, agreed with the opinion of the indigenous people that the advertising actions of the Aracruz corporation have discriminatory and racist contents and that the accusations made against them should ensure to the indigenous people the right to respond.

 

 

CIMI REQUESTS SOLIDARITY FROM PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE TRIAL OF THE VICENTE CAÑAS CASE

 

The trial of three of the six defendants accused of murdering the Jesuit missionary Vicente Cañas is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, October 24. The jury trial will be held in Cuiabá, state of Mato Grosso. This week, Cimi sent a request to people and organizations who support the indigenous cause, to send letters to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the media, stressing the importance of the case in the struggle against impunity, which has prevailed for 19 years in this case. The crime can expire in less than one year.

 

Vicente Cañas was killed in 1987 because of his fight for the demarcation of the Enawenê-Nawê land and work to ensure health care to these people. According to Cimi, the result of the trial can represent a huge advance in the struggle against impunity. 

 

He was a member of a pioneering group of missionaries who made a big change in the way missionaries work with indigenous people by opting for living with them and truly hearing what they have to say, taking part in their daily activities, showing solidarity and respect for them and respecting their religious beliefs, in short, becoming one with them. 

 

If you want to take part in this campaign, read the proposed letter and check the addresses suggested for sending it here.

 

Brasília, October 20, 2006