“I returned from this  visit feeling very worried.” “I am very sad with what they are doing to this country.” “If we let this situation continue, we will pay for all eternity for a heavy crime.” The words of Dom Jayme Henrique Chemello, after returning today (the 28th) from a visit to Roraima and to the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous land, show how the bishop is worried with the obstacles to the official confirmation of the bounds of the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous land and with the threat posed by them to the survival of indigenous peoples in the region. “It is a matter deserving a humane approach,” he said.

            Dom Jayme is worried as the deadline approaches for complying with court orders for the indigenous people to leave the land they live in, which recognize the right of rice farmers to stay in them. In some cases, the deadline for the indigenous people to leave the lands claimed by the farmers is tomorrow, the 29th.

            The bishop talked with federal judge Helder Girão, who ruled in favor of repossession claims of the farmers, and questioned his decisions, which affect indigenous villages (communities): “The farmers were the ones who encroached on the land”, says Dom Jayme.

            During the visit, Dom Jayme went to Boa Vista, the capital of the state. The bishop said that he was impressed with the anti-indigenous feeling he sensed in the city. “They think that indigenous people are the cause of the all the poverty faced in the State.”

            Dom Jayme Chemello is the bishop of Pelotas and president of the Special Episcopal Commission for the Amazon Region of the CNBB (National Conference of Bishops of Brazil). He was in Roraima accompanied by the Archbishop of Manaus, Dom Luiz Soares Vieira. The purpose of the trip was to take a close look at the situation of indigenous peoples in the region and it also led to meetings with local Federal Police officers and with the governor of Roraima.                        

THE BOUNDS OF 14 INDIGENOUS LANDS ARE OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED

Fourteen indigenous lands had their bounds officially confirmed on Wednesday (the 27th), totaling 2,337,883 hectares. The decrees ratifying the bounds of those lands were signed in a ceremony held at the Planalto Palace (the presidential palace).  

In the same ceremony, an agreement was signed between the ministries of Justice and of Land Development transferring to the National Land Reform Institute (Incra) the responsibility for re-settling squatters covered by the land reform program who live in indigenous lands.

            Cimi recognizes the importance of the official confirmation of the bounds of these 14 indigenous lands, but it insists that the indigenous policy should not be limited to acts. Much is yet to be done for defining a sound indigenous policy, particularly for allowing indigenous people to participate in the formulation of such policy.

Unfortunately, other actions of the federal administration tend to jeopardize their participation in this process. An example of this fact is the existence of a draft document setting up an Interministerial Working Group (GTI) charged with “defining priority actions for implementing the governmental indigenous policy and monitoring its implementation,” as indicated in its text.

The GTI does not include representatives of the main stakeholders: the indigenous peoples themselves and their organizations. According to that document, the only role they would play is that of being consulted in relation to the execution of public policies designed for indigenous populations, without any participation in their formulation. Therefore, the entities representing indigenous people will only be consulted by the GTI in connection with the Action Plan it will develop, its review, the actions it will attach priority to, and its implementation schedule.

Brasília, 28 October 2004