Today, the 26th, is the third day of the trial of one of the six persons accused of killing Vicente Cañas Costa, a Jesuit missionary who was murdered in 1987 in the state of Mato Grosso. A jury trial made up of seven people will decided whether Ronaldo Antônio Osmar, a former chief of police in the city of Juína, was indeed the middleman between farmers who wanted the missionary dead and the gunmen who were hired to kill him. The prosecutors charged Ronaldo with the crime based on the testimony of two Rikbatsa indigenous people who, in different situations, heard similar reports about the circumstances surrounding the murder of Cañas.

 

Yesterday, the 25th, in the afternoon, the first recordings of the depositions of the indigenous people reporting the confessions they heard from non-indigenous people were heard. Anthropologist Rinaldo Arruda, a prosecution witness, was the first non-indigenous person whom the two Rikbaktsa got in tough with to report what they had heard about the murder and ask advice in relation to what they should do with the information. One of them heard a confession from one of the gunmen being accused of committing the crime, Martinez Abadio da Silva.

 

Rinaldo Arruda was also questioned about the oral characteristics of indigenous cultures and, as a scientist, he said that verbal reports are as reliable as written ones, since these cultures usually do not keep written records. In history and in anthropology, oral records are as valid as written documents, since both of them constitute human narratives.

 

As he described his research activities among the Rikbaktsa and Enawenê-Nawê indigenous peoples, the anthropologist contributed to contextualize the crime in a scenario of land disputes that prevailed in the region. The professor of PUC-SP (Catholic University of São Paulo) also provided details about the vision (cosmo-vision) of these peoples on the world.

 

Euphemism

 

As they interrogated the first witness, the way the defense attorneys see indigenous peoples could be clearly perceived. The defense attorney, Dr. Zoroastro Teixera, questioned the “acculturation” of the indigenous people and mentioned the possibility that they had developed the habit of lying as a result of their contacts with other groups. He asked how they provide for their families, since many of them lead a luxurious life “and have dish antennae,” considering that “indigenous people usually lead a modest life.” He also questioned the funding sources of organizations working with indigenous people. Anthropologist Rinaldo replied by mentioning the economic activities carried out by indigenous people and argued that, in today’s world, no human group can survive completely out of the market economy and how they exchange and sell goods.

 

Defendant Ronaldo Antônio Osmar was heard by the jury Tuesday night. He denied any involvement in the murder and repeatedly said that he could not remember the facts. He said he knew Vicente Cañas only by the stories he heard about a “bearded, long-hair missionary who wore necklaces like indigenous people do.”

 

According to the former chief of police, Cañas was known in the region as a “chief” of the indigenous people who might be the mastermind of murders attributed to the indigenous people which were committed before he died as a result of the tensions between the Enawenê-Nawê and non-indigenous people, which already prevailed back then. The defendant also denied being aware of any tension between indigenous people and squatters or landowners. However, as chief of police, he confirmed that he had formally registered one of the murders.

 

The defendant also denied that he had done anything to delay the investigations, although the prosecutor, Mario Lucio Avelar, and his assistants, through Dr. Michael Nolan, reported complaints that the investigations had been delayed on purpose by the chief of police in charge of them in the city of Cuiabá.

 

The defense attorney argues that the defendant cannot be convicted because the coroners who examined Cañas’ body could not identify the cause of his death, although they reported that he had been killed by a sharp object. However, the examination was harmed by the fact that the body was found about 40 days after the missionary was killed. The lawyer of the defendant, Dr. Zoroastro Teixeira, who is referred to as the “devil’s advocate” in Cuiabá, said that since it was not possible to identify the cause of the death in the examination of Cañas’ body, it cannot even be concluded that he was murdered.

 

When the case records were being read, the defense attorney mentioned several depositions of people who found the body of Cañas and said that it showed signs that he had been involved in a fight, since his glasses were broken and his sandals had been torn into pieces and scattered around his hut, where everything was out of place both inside and outside.

 

The trial has been attended by dozens of people, particularly representatives of indigenist or pastoral organizations.

 

Two trials

 

Six people were accused of murdering Cañas. Two of them died and for two of them the crime expired because they are over 70 years old.

 

Through an appeal which was filed based on a legal provision, the defense attorneys ensured a separate trial for the two defendants who are less than 70 years. Both defendants will stand trial for aggravated homicide in exchange for money and in an ambush.

 

The other defendant, José Vicente da Silva, will stand trial as of next Tuesday, October 31.

 

The trial will take place 19 years after the murder was committed and just one year before the case expires.

 

Cuiabá (state of Mato Grosso), October 26, 2006.

 

Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council