Gonçalves Costa, who had been charged with killing Avelino Nunes, from the Xakriabá people, who live in the north region of the state of Minas Gerais, in September 2007. Avelino’s community and relatives were not even informed that this judgment would take place. They have already requested the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai) to appeal against the decision.

 

According to prosecutor Manuela Coelho, Edson was acquitted for lack of evidence. The witnesses were two other persons involved in Avelino’s murder. The two young people, who are under 18 years old, said that Edson did not even touch Avelino. In October 2007, a Court determined, as a social-educational measure, that the two boys were to remain in a juvenile facility for three years.

 

Avelino’s murder took place on September 16, 2007 in the municipality of Miravânia, in the state of Minas Gerais. In principle, the defendants said that they had no intention to kill Avelino, but an expert report denied this version and stressed that Avelino died from cranial trauma caused by physical assault. Since then, the underage defendants began to say that Edson is not directly involved in Avelino’s murder.

 

The Xakriabá people were outraged with the decision, because Avelino’s relatives became aware of the decision through the press. Indigenous leaders talked to Funai’s attorney, Guilherme Bacelar, and he said he is analyzing the judicial proceeding in order to take applicable judicial measures.

 

At a public hearing held in the Xakriabá territory in October 2007, indigenous leaders reported that the increasing violence against their people is related to the struggle to expand their territory.

 

***

 

Pressure from farmers increases tension inside Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe land in the state of Bahia

 

Late in February 2008, the pressure from non-indigenous people on part of the Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe land, located in the south region of the state of Bahia, increased. On February 22, thirty-six men wearing hoods invaded the area, bringing with them 500 head of cattle, and threatened to remove indigenous people from it by force. The area had been reoccupied in 2007 and is part of the Hã-Hã-Hãe land, whose legalization process has been analyzed by the Supreme Federal Court (STF) for 25 years without any final decision.

 

According to documents provided by indigenous leaders and by Funai’s Regional Administration in the municipality of Ilhéus, two employees of a farmer called Jaime do Amor have been leading these invasions of indigenous lands.  Last weekend (March 4 and 5), Chief Ilsa reported that the home of Elza, the sister of Galdino Pataxó and João Cravim (both murdered in land conflicts), is surrounded by gunmen.

 

Indigenous people and Jaime do Amor have been involved in this land dispute since 2001, when it was reoccupied by the Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe people for the very first time. A Court granted a writ of entry in 2005 and the indigenous people were forced to leave the area. They reoccupied the area in January 2007. The indigenous people want to remain in the area until the Supreme Federal Court issues a final decision on the lawsuits related to the Hã-Hã-Hãe land.

Leaders of the Hã-Hã-Hãe people and the National Foundation for Indigenous People (Funai) sent official letters to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and to the Safety Secretariat of the state of Bahia requesting them to take measures to control the situation.

Background

The Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe land was demarcated in 1937 by the Indigenous People’s Protection Service (SPI), which was the official indigenous agency then. In the 1940s, SPI’s employees began to lease indigenous lands to farmers illegally and, as a result, the Government of the State of the Bahia issued title deeds to the leaseholders in 1976. In 1982, the Pataxó people organized themselves and began to reoccupy their invaded lands. In the same year, Funai asked the STF to annul the titles deeds that had been issued by the State of Bahia. To this day, the Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe people are still waiting for this lawsuit to be judged, whose rapporteur is justice Eros Grau.

 

Brasília, March 7, 2008.

Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council

                                            www.cimi.org.br