The jury trial held in a federal court in Mato Grosso acquitted the former chief of police Ronaldo Antônio Osmar, but determined that a murder had been committed with a light weapon (knife) or a club. The jury trial lasted from the morning of October 24 until the wee hours of Sunday, the 29th (1:15 a.m. Brasília time). The prosecutors said that they will appeal to the Federal Court of Appeals (TRF) of the 1st region, in Brasília, against the sentence that acquitted the defendant. The trial of the second defendant is scheduled to begin on November 6.

 

“The recognition that a crime was committed is a remarkable victory. And Cimi will continue to press for all facts to be clarified,” said Paulo Machado Guimarães, the legal advisor to Cimi who assisted the prosecutors during the trial. District attorney Mario Lucio Avelar, from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Mato Grosso, was the prosecutor in the case.

 

The sentence involved three considerations. For 4 votes against 3, the jurors decided that the injuries found in the body of Vicente Cañas had been caused by third parties using a club and a white weapon. For 5 votes against 2, they decided that the injuries had caused the death of the missionary. And for 6 votes against 1 they acquitted the defendant.

 

According to Cimi’s secretary Eden Magalhães, many obstacles had to be faced for this trial to be held. “We had to fight even to make sure that the case was tried not by a state court, but by a federal court, as provided for in the law, since Vicente Cañas was a member of a Funai’s working group set up to identify the land of the Enarwenê-Nawê people when he was murdered. The result of this trial, which was held 19 years after the crime was committed, was harmed by the defendants, who hindered the investigations in every way they could, believing that impunity would prevail and that they would never stand trial for it.”

 

Next trial

 

Six people were accused of having killed Cañas. Two of them died and for two of them the crime expired, as they are over 70 years old.

 

Through an appeal procedure provided for in the law, the defense attorneys ensured a separate trial for the two defendants who are less than 70 years old. Both were accused of aggravated homicide in exchange for money and in an ambush.

 

The second jury trial is scheduled for November 6, when defendant José Vicente da Silva, who was accused of having been hired to commit the crime, will be tried.

 

According to lawyer Michael Nolan, this decision on the occurrence of the homicide simplifies the next trial a little bit.

 

Vicente Cañas Costa, a Cimi missionary and a Jesuit brother, was killed in 1987 because of his struggle for the demarcation of the land of the Enawenê-Nawê people and his work to ensure health care to them and their survival. Only 19 years after the crime, and less than six months from the deadline for the case to expire, this historical trial of the persons accused of killing him is being held.

 

VALE DO RIO DOCE COMPANY CANCELS AGREEMENT WITH THE XIKRIN PEOPLE IN THE STATE OF PARÁ

 

The director for Corporate Affairs of the Vale do Rio Doce company informed the leaders of the Xikrin do Cateté and Djudjêkô communities that the company decided to cancel the compensation agreements it has with these groups for using their land. Indigenous leaders, a representative of the company, and the president of the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai), Mércio Pereira Gomes, held a meeting on October 31 in Brasília.

 

The objective of the meeting was to find a solution to the deadlock which started on October 17, when some Xikrin members of these communities occupied facilities of the company in Carajás, state of Pará. “They depicted us as thugs, but we wanted to have the meeting as promised,” Iruyan, an indigenous person, complained.

 

According to the Xikrin leaders, the cancelled agreement included a clause according to which a meeting was to be held after August 11 to renegotiate the annual transfer of financial compensations by the Company to indigenous villages, which today amount to nine million reais. According to indigenous leaders who attended the meeting, because their population increased, this sum is not sufficient any longer.

 

The representative of the Vale do Rio Doce company said that the agreement includes a clause according to which it would be cancelled if the Xikrin invaded facilities of the company. He said that all the actions that the company carries out “voluntarily” would be interrupted. He also demanded government projects to solve the health care and transportation problems faced by the indigenous communities, which according to him “is not a role to be played by Vale.”

 

The president of Funai said nothing in response to this claim. He also failed to remind the company that it must compensate the indigenous people for the damages caused to the indigenous lands it occupies. He reported that Funai will sue the Vale do Rio Doce company for breach of contract.

 

Brasília, November 1, 2006.

 

Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council