Cacique (chief) Rosivaldo Ferreira da Silva (“Babau”) and his brother, Givaldo Ferreira da Silva, preventively arrested by federal judge Pedro Holliday of Ilhéus, were transferred yesterday, Friday, April 16, to the federal penitentiary in Mossoró (RN). Information provided by the Federal Police in Salvador, where both had been detained, tell of a demonstration that had gathered in front of its jail, with protests against the arrest of Babau and Givaldo.

 

Babau was arrested before sunrise on March 10, while sleeping at home with his family, in the village of Serra do Padeiro, within the Tupinambá Indigenous Land. The action was a clear violation of the residence by unidentified agents of the Federal Police. He arrived at the jail in Ilhéus many hours later, with facial hematomas and injuries to the kidney region, which lasted several days. Givaldo was arrested in front of a garage in Buerarema, where he had taken his car for repairs.

 

The Federal Maximum Security Prison of Mossoró contains 83 prisoners from other jails in the country, accused of narcotics trafficking, forming gangs, homicide and assault, among other crimes. Babau and Givaldo have not been tried, but are respondents in investigations sustained by the accusations of large scale farm owners and others who oppose demarcation of the Tupinambá territory. The Federal Public Ministry (Federal Public Prosecutor) contests the imputation of accusations against them – and other Tupinambá leaders – by the Federal Police, and filed three writs of habeas corpus for their release. The FUNAI (National Foundation for Indigenous Affairs) filed a fourth habeas corpus in support of Cacique Babau, insisting on compliance with the first paragraph of Article 56 of Law n^o. 6.001/73, which allows for indigenous peoples to remain at the disposition of the court at the attending FUNAI post closest to the indigenous land of origin.

 

For the Indigenist Missionary Council, the transfer of these two indigenous leaders, of national importance, to a maximum-security federal prison constitutes yet another arbitrary action of the Federal Police and reinforces the conviction that such arrests have an inherently political stamp. This being an obvious reprisal in light of the important judicial victory won by the Tupinambá people in the Federal Regional Tribunal, 1^st region, in Brasilia only a few days earlier. The court decision assured the permanence of the same in possession of their traditional lands, previously invaded by large landed estates and politicians of the region. The Tupinambá people need to have their constitutional rights respected. The delayed effectuation of these rights by the Brazilian State cannot be used as pretext for actions of criminalization on the part of agencies of this same state against their leaders, to the applause of the farm owners, business people and local politicians, invaders of the traditional lands of this people.

 

Brasilia, DF, 17 April of 2010

 

Indigenist Missionary Council -CIMI

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