Number 104, November 11, 1993

POLITICAL NEWS

- Constitutional Revision Begins.

On November 10, Congress approved the internal regiment for the process of revising the federal Constitution. The regiment passed, 307 to 4. 293 votes were necessary to approve the the regiment, which includes the procedures which the revision will follow.

The revision process is to last until March 15, 1994.It is unlikely that any constitutional changes will be voted on this year. The time periods for presentation and discussion on proposed amendments would allow for the initial voting to begin in the second half of December. The end of the year holidays and the investigation of the budget scandal will interfere with the revision.

The next step in the process is the presentation, debate, and voting on amendments to the internal regiment.

The voting session was a tumultuous one, not only because prominent Congressional leaders have been named as being involved in the budget scandal. The shooting of ex-governor Tarcisio Burity by the current governor, Ronaldo Cunha Lima, in a Joao Pessoa restaurant on November 5 (Cunha Lima claimed his honor was wounded by charges of corruption made by Burity) caused a skirmish between congressional members who are relatives of both Cunha Lima and Burity.

Federal Deputy Ivam Burity asked Senate president Humberto Lucena if he would confirm his statement that Cunha Lima had acted with dignity in shooting Burity (who survived the assassination attempt). Lucena said he had been misinterpreted and had in fact said that Cunha Lima acted in a dignified manner because he did not contract gunmen to do the shooting. Burity replied that if Lucena really thought that, then the Congress could run the risk of making it constitutional for the rich and powerful to kill.

- Thousands Participate in Anti-Corruption Protests.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched along Rio de Janeiro's beaches on November 7 to call for an end to political corruption. The demonstration, called, "Clean Up, Brazil!" was organized by the Movement for Ethics in Politics. It featured the cleaning of a plastic Brazilian flag with boxes of "Brazil Cleanser."

The Movement issued the following statement before the demonstration:

"Once again, civil society is called to speak out against the corruption schemes in Brasilia. This time the scheme is in the National Congress, where parallel powers have been uncovered. These mafias benefit from public funds in conjunction with private business contractors who are long accustomed with impunity.

"The creation of the Budget CPI (investigating committee) by Congress to investigate the accusations is a result of the 1992 mobilization for impeachment. Brazilian society will no longer accept impunity.

"But we have no illusions that without the pressure of organized society there is no guarantee that the CPI will investigate to the depths the budget mafia. This time, the corrupted as well as the corrupters must be punished. Society demands this.

"At the same time, the budget scandal shows the need for a more profound movement towards democracy in Brazil. The federal budget, which is the mirror of the nation, has been manipulated by all three branches of government, in order to enrich a "small" mafia in detriment to the real needs of the people.

"Demanding the end to impunity is not enough. We must also call for transparency and democracy in the budget-making process. Society must participate in this process by creating permanent control mechanisms over public institutions.

"For the organizations united in the Movement for Ethics in Politics, this is the moment for organized society to take to the streets to demand the punishment of the corrupted and the corrupters. We want no more embarrassments like the escape of PC Farias. We demand that the CPI investigations do not stop in the Congress.

"This is the moment to clean up Brazil."

Demonstrations were also held this week in Salvador, Belem, Joao Pessoa, Fortalez, and Sao Paulo.

- Popular Movement Center Created.

More than 1000 representatives of grassroots movements, along with trade union and political party members, founded the Center for Popular Movements of Brazil (CMP). The founding moment occurred during the First Congress of Popular Movements, held from October 28-31, in Belo Horizonte.

The goals of the Congress were to evaluate the current political and organization situation of the movements, create the CMP and define its character, elect the CMP's directorate, and define a plan of action.

The CMP directorate is composed of one representative from each state and from each national movement. It was estimated that 70% of the Congress participants began their involvement in grassroots movements through the base Christian communities.

- Foreign Debt Agreement Delayed.

The time period for restructuring Brazil's US$35 billion debt to international banks was extended from February 28, 1994 to April 15, 1994. This is the fourth extension and is due to the Brazilian government's delay in guaranteeing fiscal adjustment measures - measures needed in order to obtain a "stand by" agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

Another factor in the delay is the current investigation of the budget scandal in Congress. Central Bank president Pedro Malan said three discussions have been hampered by the investigation: the constitutional revision; the fiscal adjustment; and the 1994 budgetary provisions. Without definition on these items, the government cannot receive the guarantee of the IMF demanded by the bank creditors.

However, creditor banks will begin to negotiate the signing of a Brady Plan foreign debt reduction agreement on November 29 in Toronto, Canada. This announcement was made by Citibank president William Rhodes and Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

The debt accord depends not only on the IMF, but also on the agreement to Brazil's proposals by the Dart family of the United States, which holds Brazil external debt titles on the secondary market of US$1.4 billion.

LAND ISSUES

- Land Occupation in Getulina, Sao Paulo, Enters Second Month.

2500 families have occupied land on the Jangadas and Ribeirao de Bugre ranches, in northwest Sao Paulo state, since October. The ranch lands are owned by the Ribas family, of the town of Getulina.

The families hope to reproduce the experience of another land occupation, now in its seventh year, in Promissao, Sao Paulo. On the Reunidas ranch, also owned by the Ribas',the once landless families now produce 35% of all the rice, beans, cotton, vegetables, and milk in the town.

The families on the Jangadas and Ribeirao de Bugre ranches are connected with the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) and want the land, which had not been used for farming, expropriated. The ranch owners requested, and got from Judge Marcelo Franca de Siqueira e Silva, of Lins, an eviction order and an injunction to return the land back to the Ribas family. Two thousand Military Police were sent to carry out the eviction, originally set for November 4. However, MST leaders negotiated a treaty with the police to delay the eviction until INCRA (the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) visited the area to decide if the land would be judged unproductive and therefore eligible for expropriation. The state agreed to the delay, in order to avoid what some have called "a new Carandiru", in reference to last year's Sao Paulo state prison massacre.

The ranchers appealed to the court again and won an injunction to prevent INCRA workers from making the visit. According to Lins Bishop Irineu Danelon, who has been mediating the negotiations, the landless families have filed a petition that the eviction process be transferred from the Getulina court to the city of Sao Paulo. They argue that constitutionally, land conflict cases are under the jurisdiction of federal, not state or municipal, courts.

INCRA officials said in a preliminary analysis that there are indications that the Jangadas and Ribeirao do Bugre ranches are unproductive. Despite the ranchers' resistance in letting INCRA see the area, the MST is optimistic about the outcome of the case. "The decision will be in favor of the landless families," said Bishop Danelon.

Meanwhile, the Military Police stand outside the ranches, awaiting the order to carry out the eviction.

- Landless Farmworkers March Against Hunger and For Land Expropriation.

About 1000 farmworkers took to the road on November 4 to protest against hunger and misery. Representatives of 12 thousand landless families from the state of Sao Paulo walked 100 kilometers, from Campinas to Sao Paulo, in four days in a "March Against Hunger and Misery and For Agrarian Reform and Life."

"We intend to call attention to the fact that the problem of hunger can only be resolved by producing food," said Lafaiete Pereira Piet, director of the Rural Department of the Central Union of Workers (CUT). The landless marchedfor the settlement of 6500 families occupying land in Sao Paulo, and for better working conditions for the 5500 families already settled on lands. They also called for the suspension of the eviction order against the 2500 families occupying two ranches in Getulina.

On November 8, 600 of the marchers occupied the state offices of INCRA in downtown Sao Paulo. A commission of the landless met with the state Secretary of Justice and the secretary of the state governor. One of the landless movement leaders, Jose Rainha, said that "the Getulina families will not leave the land without resisting." Justice Secretary Antonio Correa Meyer accused INCRA of "omission" in the Getulina case. According to state superintendent for INCRA, Joao Bosco Loureiro, the agency cannot expropriate the lands because the owners will not allow INCRA workers to inspect the area and judge its productivity.

However, the march and occupation of INCRA forced the government to act. On November 9, Loureiro sent a fax to the national INCRA office in Brasilia requesting the expropriation of the 5400-hectare Jangadas ranch "as the means for a solution to the social tension conflicts." INCRA president Oswaldo Russo approved the request and passed it on to Sao Paulo State Agriculture Secretary Dejandir Daspasquale, who has the power to implement the expropriation.

Dalpasquale, after meeting with ranch owner Antonio Ribas on November 10, decided to delay his decision on the expropriation for another week. He said that reports he received from Ribas state that the lands are in fact productive. The secretary said he will make his decision before November 17, the date the government has set for the police operation to remove the landless families.

- Bishop Casadaliga Receives Death Threats.

Bishop Pedro Casadaliga, of the diocese of Sao Felix do Araguaia in the state of Mato Grosso, received death threats from ranchers in the region late last month.

According to the diocese, Bishop Casadaliga received information from an anonymous source that three Sao Felix ranchers had contracted a gunman from Aragarcas, Goias for CR$3.5 million to kill the bishop.

In the 1960s, the Suia Missu Ranch was developed in an area belonging to the Xavante indians in Mato Grosso. The Xavante were removed from their land and since then have struggled for the right to return.

The Sao Felix diocese reported that the first ranch owner was Ariosto da Riva, who then sold it to the Ometto group. The Italian petroleum company Eni-Agips,the current owner, began to dialogue with the Xavante after the Earth Summit last year about turning the land back to the indians.

Area ranchers and politicians reacted strongly against these negotiations, and called for invasions of the land in order to stop the return of the Xavante.

The diocese says it "always defended the unquestionable rights of the Xavante. However, within this area to be returned live many non-indigenous families. The diocese always has manifested itself to be disposed to defend the rights of the true settlers and small land owners to land - but not on indigenous areas!"

On September 30, the federal Ministry of Justice demarcated 168,000 hectares of Xavante land, including the Suia Missu ranch. The diocese said that this action "outraged the land invaders and their sponsors, who blocked for several days the BR-158 highway and heightened the climate of lies and persecution against the diocese and Bishop Pedro. The Alto da Boa Vista church was vandalized, there was more talk to eliminate the bishop, and finally there is this news of a contract on the bishop's life."

The Catholic Church's Land Pastoral Commission (CPT) is asking for letters to federal authorities, calling on them to investigate the threats against Bishop Casadaliga.

Letters can be sent to:

Dr.Aristides Junqueira

Procurador Geral da Justica

Av. L2-Sul, Quadra 603 - lote 23

70200-901 Brasilia, DF

(Fax) 061-313-5388

Mauricio Correa

Ministro da Justica

Esplanada dos Ministerios

Gabinete do Ministro

70000-900 Brasilia, DF

(Fax) 061-321-5145

061-321-5172

WOMEN'S ISSUES

- Ivone Gebara on the Legalization of Abortion.

The October 6, 1993 issue of "Veja" magazine featured an interview with Augustinian sister and theologian Ivone Gebara. In the interview, entitled, "Abortion Is Not A Sin", Gebara discussed her experiences working with women on the periphery of Recife, and the evolution of her position in favor of legalizing abortion.

After the interview was published, Gebara received three requests from Recife Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho to make a public retraction of her statements by November 4. She contacted him three times saying that she could not retract. As of this writing, she has not heard from the archbishop regarding any actions he may take.

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) issued a statement on October 14 which defended Church teaching "in defense of the right to life, from the first moment of conception." The CNBB recognized Gebara's "many years of service dedicated to the Church", and hoped "that she would align her thinking in harmony and faithfulness to the doctrine of the Church."

Gebara has received public support from Brazilian feminists groups, and from the Latin American and United States sections of Catholics for a Free Choice. She has received private support from some men and women religious in Brazil.

Gebara, who will leave Brazil in December for six months to teach at the Auburn program at Union Theological Seminary in New York, released a statement two weeks after the publication of the interview to expand on her position on abortion. What follows are excerpts from her statement:

"In spite of having agreed freely to the interview, I would like to make a distinction between the understanding and editing of the journalists and my own personal position. The interview was done in an informal way at three different moments, including international phone calls, since I was outside the country. It was done by two people who are professional journalists, one from the Northeast and one from the Southeast of Brazil. This interview was reorganized by them and published before the anticipated date, without my being able to review the text. Consequently, it has the limitations and almost inevitable distortions that would be the case with any interview done under such conditions. In spite of this, I know that this interview has had considerable impact and has elicited heated discussions: some in favor, some against, still others requesting public reparation or correction of my thinking.

"For this reason, I would like, at this time, to reaffirm my positions, not that they be accepted, but rather that they be discussed within the limitations of our fragile democracy and freedom of thought.

"The question of legalized abortion has for many years undergone a notable process of mutation, not only in society in general, but also in the Church. In the same way as the mirrors and the colored stones of the social and religious kaleidoscope change, so too, do the discussions and positions concerning this difficult question; and this has given rise to a tremendous diversity of philosophical, religious, psychological, political, and legal discussions, not always with the direct participation of women.

"Today, I am in favor of decriminalizing and legalizing abortion as one means of lessening the violence against life. I am also aware of the inherent limitations of this position and of the difficulties, legal and otherwise, due in particular to the inefficacy of our public institutions today.

"Living in a neighborhood on the periphery of the city and having contact with sufferings of hundreds of women, especially poor women living under tremendous stress, due to their personal problems as well as problems of survival, give me the necessary backing for some of the affirmations that in conscience I must make. I treat the question more from the perspective of poor women because they are the greatest victims of this tragic situation.

"According to statistics published by various health organizations, it is estimated that in Brazil there are millions of illegal abortions annually, with maternal mortality at 10%. Such frightening figures are indicators of a serious social problem which needs to be brought under control. Thus it is primarily the duty of the State to guarantee order and to legislate persistently in a way that assures that the life of all its citizens is respected. Legalizing abortion does not mean the affirmation of the "Goodness", "Innocence", or even "Unconditional Defense" of or even making light of the act of abortion, rather it means the possibility of humanizing and giving decent conditions to what is being practiced.

"Legalizing abortion is merely one of the important aspects of the broader process of struggle against a society that condones the social abortion of its sons and daughters. A society which does not provide the conditions of adequate employment, health, housing and schools is an abortive society. A society which obliges women to choose between keeping their jobs and terminating a pregnancy is an abortive society. A society which continues to permit pregnancy testing as a requirement for hiring women is abortive. A society which is silent about the responsibility of men and blames only women, disrespects their bodies and their history and is exclusive, sexist, and abortive society.

"Decriminalizing abortion could be considered, according to this way of thinking, as a behavior which continues institutionalized violence, a kind of violent response to a violent situation. Maybe we could think this way if the thousands of abortions and deaths of women did not in fact already exist. As these are incontestable facts, to legislate them in the most respectful manner possible becomes a way of diminishing the violence against women and society in general.

"For me as a Christian, to defend decriminalizing and regulating abortion does not mean to negate the traditional teachings of the Gospel of Jesus and the Church, but rather to enter more deeply into these given the paradox of our human history, a way of actually diminishing the violence against life.

"Christian Principles, as well as others, do not always withstand the imperatives of concrete life, imperatives which make us more pliant, more merciful, more understanding and more convinced that the law is for people and not people for the law; that the law should help us in our weakness, above all when our liberty is crushed by unjust structures which do not permit the realization of free and totally human acts.

"Today, what is necessary and urgent is an open and pluralistic discussion, the seeking of consensus from the position of the common good, the ethical search for ways to defend all human life. It is the responsibility of the State to arrive at a consensus in view of a just order that guarantees, by way of law, the life of its citizens and puts limits on a chaotic situation caused by the practice of covert abortions.

"My position with regard to decriminalized and legalized abortion, as a citizen, Christian, and member of a religious community is one form of denouncing the evil, the institutionalized violence, the abuses and the hypocrisy which envelop us; it is a testimony for LIFE; it is in DEFENSE OF LIFE."

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