Between October 4 and 9 approximately 80 indigenous leaders, riverine and urban workers and activists of social movements met in the Second Seminar On the Social Environmental Reality on the borders of Brazil, Peru and Columbia. The event was conducted in the indigenous community of Ronda, of the Kokama people, near the city of Letícia, in the Columbian department of Amazonas.

 

Those who disembark in some of the cities on the border between Brazil, Peru and Columbia perceive, immediately, the ostensive military presence, supposedly to defend the national territory. The sense of many of those who live there, on the other hand, is that of being encircled by the force of a state apparatus and, principally, by clandestine legions of narcotics traffickers, mercenaries heavily armed and trained to defend their interests.

 

As if it were not sufficient that violence be practiced by the military against indigenous and riverine populations in the three countries, the state fosters more aggressive restriction. It does not recognize the rights of the indigenous peoples, leaving the riverine communities unassisted and does not adopt the public policies necessary to assure elementary constitutional rights such as security, health and education among other concerns. This results in fragility in facing all threats.

 

Public Policies

On the Brazilian side, the indigenous peoples resent the lack of public policies to protect their territories. Many lands are already demarcated and regularized, protected by a policy of demarcation that, if being far from ideal, neither does it compare closely to legislation on the matter in the neighboring countries where in addition to this, there exists powerful pressure of foreign economic groups against indigenous territories and agrarian peoples that have resulted in episodes of violence and massacres like those of Cauca (Columbia) and Bágua (Peru).

 

These two examples have some points in common. Dozens of indigenous people were murdered by police and military forces in the struggle against draft laws that intend the opening of their traditional territories for exploration by mining companies or foreign logging interests – among them Petrobrás, “which is owner of the entire basin of the Putumayo river (Peru)”, charges Paul Mcaley of Rede Ambiental Loretana – RAL (Loretana Environmental Network).

 

He further states that in that country there exists a very strong relationship between the police forces and the multinational companies. “There is increased repression of the communities that speak out against petroleum and mining exploration”, says Paul.

 

Challenges and resistance

 

“In the region of Alto Solimões, in Brazil, the greatest problem for the riverine peoples is of an environmental order”, observes professor Lysiete da Conceição Freitas, of the community Terezina III. “We have been struggling for nineteen years, at the side of other communities, to preserve the lakes of the locality, but do not obtain resources for this”, she says. This, therefore, is only one of innumerable challenges for the social movements on the borders of the three countries.

 

One important step toward solution of the problem is the comprehension that the problems are common and that the borders of the nation states are not barriers to the impacts on all the peoples and biomes of that region. The destruction of forest on the Peruvian side brings environmental disaster to Brazilians and Columbians also.

 

For sociologist Márcia Maria Oliveira, participation of the riverine peoples in the event was one of the advances in relation to the previous meeting. She explains, “There is still a confusion over our comprehension of this category with relationship to the other countries. For the Columbians and Peruvians they are peasants. And it seems to me that the form of occupation of the Amazon also differs, but I believe that their participation in this seminar makes all the difference”.

 

Regarding the massacres

 

The conducting of the seminars on the reality of the border between Brazil, Peru and Columbia was marked by reports of massacres against indigenous peoples. This past June, approximately 50 indigenous Awajun and Wampi, officially, were killed in confrontation with the police in the region of Bágua, where police were also killed. The number of deaths however, is much higher. The conflict arose due to indigenous resistance to approval of laws authored by the government of Alan Garcia that reduce the definition of the Forest Patrimony and would have permitted 45 million hectares of forested land, which represents 60% of the Peruvian Amazon, to be destined to private enterprises.

 

On October 15 of last year, police forces violently repressed protest by approximately eight thousand indigenous people in the Pan-American highway, in the valley of Cauca, in Columbia. Several indigenous people were killed and at least 89 were injured.

 

J. Rosha

Cimi North 2

 

                                                        ***

 

Mato Grosso do Sul: Senator Marina Silva participates in Aty Guasu in Ivy Katu

 

One more Aty Guasu (large meeting) of the Guarani people has begun in Mato Grosso do Sul, yesterday, October 14. The assembly is being held in the community of Yvy Katu, in the municipality of Japorã. Circa 500 persons from several Guarani communities including from Rio Grande do Sul participate in the assembly to discuss the direction of the indigenous struggle for land and the impasses for formation of the Technical Groups for demarcation of the lands. Senator Marina Silva (PV- Acre) participates today in the Japorã event. This is the first time that a senator has participated in an Aty Guasu. Marina Silva is considered an ally of the indigenous peoples as much for defense of the environment as for her understanding of the indigenous cause.

 

The central question for the encounter, which ends on Saturday the 17^th, is how the indigenous peoples should organize to delineate alliances in defense of their rights and with whom to draw these alliances. The presence of Senator Marina Silva is perceived in this light. Another important point is the initiation, with urgency, of work by the Technical Groups. According to the indigenous people it is no longer possible to wait for these works to begin. The Aty Guasu was postponed several times in order for members of the technical groups to be present for clarifications and discussions.

 

Threats

During the meeting the indigenous participants also had an opportunity to address the constant threats and violence they experience because of the struggle for traditional territory.

 

An example of recent violence, on September 11, the community of Laranjeira Ñanderu was obliged to leave their traditional territory and mount an encampment on the roadside. Without having finished searching for their belongings and the thatch that had been gathered for finishing the roofs of the temporary shelters, the Guarani saw a criminal fire consume their old homes three days after the dispossession. Only four days after the fire in Laranjeira Ñanderu, the Guarani community of Apika’y also had homes burned by gunmen and some Guarani were injured.

 

The Yvy Katu area, where the Aty Guasu is being held, was occupied in 2003 after intense confrontations with fazenda proprietors. In July of 2005, the Ministry of Justice published the demarcation directive of the lands as indigenous territory. The Agropecuária Pedra Branca appealed to the STJ (Superior Tribunal de Justiça) but lost the case. On September 14 of that year, the Premeira Seção of the STJ rejected a security mandate against the demarcation.

                                        ***