Tuesday evening (19/12), after more than four hours waiting in front of the Ministry of Justice in Brasilia, 18 representatives – the 7 chiefs and 11 leaders – of the Tupinikim and Guarani indigenous people left the place. No one of the Ministry wanted to receive them.

 

The meeting with the Minister of Justice was part of the agreement between the National Foundation of the Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI) and the Tupinikim and Guarani, that the 300 Indians who occupied the harbor of Portocel during 12 and 13 December would leave the place. Through this harbor, Aracruz exports 97% of the cellulose produced by the pulp mills complex of the company, close to the town of Aracruz.

 

In February 2006, after a violent action of the Federal Police to remove the Indians who had retaken their land, invaded by Aracruz Cellulose, the Minister of Justice Márcio Thomaz Bastos promised to sign the Act that declares the Tupinikim/Guarani land indigenous, as soon as he received the opinion-document of FUNAI. This document was sent by FUNAI to the Ministry of Justice on September 12. According to Brazilian law, after receiving the document, the Minister has 30 days to decide in favor or against the indigenous peoples. The document has already been approved by the juridical department of the Ministry. However, Aracruz presented three weeks ago one more document, a so-called ‘memorial’, made by the lawyers office of the ex-minister of justice and of the Supreme Federal Court, Nelson Jobim, challenging once again the recommendation of FUNAI to demarcate the land. This last challenge, according to FUNAI-representatives, has also already been analyzed by the juridical department of the Ministry and does not add any new information to the process. So at the moment, there is nothing left that could impede a decision of the Minister.

 

While the delegation of the Tupinikim and Guarani were not allowed to enter the Ministry of Justice, president Lula had a lunch two weeks ago with the president of Aracruz Cellulose, Carlos Alberto Aguiar, when the company received a loan of 595 million reais (278 million US dollars) from the National Development Bank from Brazil (BNDES) to expand its cellulose production in Espirito Santo and buy more lands to plant eucalyptus.

 

Yesterday, the indigenous leaders tried to get at least a copy of the whole process that is present at the Ministry of Justice, and that can prove the only verbal information they obtained, but they did not succeed in getting this copy. They already announced that they come back to Brasilia in January to put pressure on minister Márcio Thomaz Bastos, who will leave the government at the end of January 2007.

 

Also some good news to tell at the end this update: a federal judge decided on 20^th of December that Aracruz has to withdrawn all the expressions “false or alleged” or any other expression that can be translated in falseness about the indigenous situation. It is also forbidden to question the way of life of the indigenous communities, including their homes and cloths. Aracruz also has to stop spreading around the brochures with these kind of contents. This decision is a result of the Civil Public Action with which the Public Prosecution Service took Aracruz to court because of its racist and defamatory campaign against the Tupinikim and Guarani.

 

 

21 December 2006

CIMI, www.cimi.org.br

FASE/ES, www.fase.org.br – www.deserteverde.org