|
|
|
|
================================================================= NEWS FROM BRAZIL supplied by SEJUP (Servico Brasileiro de Justica e Paz) Number 155, November 17, 1994. =================================================================
INDIGENOUS ISSUES
- 28% of Brazilian indians are hungry according to survey.
In a total population of 269836 indians in Brazil at least 76272 (28.27%) have not sufficient food according to a survey carried out by the Institute for Socio-Economic Studies (INESC) in July and published recently. The "Estado de Sao Paulo" of November 14 carries a summary of the findings of the survey. The survey is known as the Hunger Map Amongst the Indigenous Peoples in Brazil and included 128 indian communities in its investigations. The survey was coordinated by anthropologist Ricardo Verdum and shows that indians living in the northeastern region of the country as well as indigenous communities in the States of Mato Grosso do Sul, Parana, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul are more subject to hunger. In the case of the northeast, out of a total population of 47824 indians included in the survey, 40130 (83.91%) have not sufficient food. According to Ricardo Verdum indians in this region are living "in territories reduced in size and the prolonged drought of recent years has only aggravated the difficult situation in which the indigenous population of the region finds itself .......a considerable part of the indigenous population here has sought employment locally and in the urban centers and receives a low salary". In the other states already mentioned in the south of Brazil, 29913 indians (or an estimated 59,6% of the indigenous population in this region) have difficulty in getting sufficient food for their sustenance. Work in slave or semi-slave conditions have affected many indians especially in Mato Grosso do Sul who endeavor to earn sufficient to survive. In the survey results many factors explain the hunger being faced by the indigenous population. Such factors include reduced indigenous areas,invasion of such areas by non-indians, deforestation, over-use of the land, water polluted by agro-toxics and mercury, indigenous areas flooded after the construction of dams, roads cutting across such areas, illegal landing strips constructed in indian areas and the formation of slum villages near urban centers. "This is a frightening situation which is emerging...... this data shows the extent of the cultural disrespect together with state and society political authoritarianism against the indigenous peoples" commented the survey coordinator, Ricardo Verdum.
- Army steals indians crops according to denouncement.
According to a report in the "Jornal do Brasil" on November 04, the army is being accused of stealing crops planted by the indians in the region of Rio Curicuriari, in the middle Rio Negro valley, State of Amazonas. The denouncement was made to the Procurator General of the Republic earlier this year by the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of the River Negro (FOIRN). "They wipe out our crops" according to FOIRN president Braz de Oliveira Franca. However, Franca does not blame the soldiers "they are involved in survival exercises in the forest and are starved and they eat whatever they find". He blames the military commanders in the area, "it is they who give the orders" he comments. The soldiers are from the 5th. Special Frontier Division based in Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira, State of Amazonas. There are 15 different indian tribes in this area speaking 20 different languages. The chief demand of the indigenous groups here is that their territory be demarcated.
- Demarcation of indigenous area neglected during presidency of Itamar Franco.
According to a November 10 statement from the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) one of the most serious omissions during the presidency of Itamar Franco was the non demarcation of indigenous areas. According to FUNAI (the government indigenous agency), there are 563 indigenous areas in Brazil and only 53% of this total has been demarcated. The time-limit given by the 1988 Constitution for the demarcation of all such areas was October 1993. FUNAI data shows that 31% of the indigenous areas have been invaded by ranchers, farmers without land documents (posseiros) and gold prospectors. Such people do not only illegally occupy indigenous lands but are also responsible for widescale deforestation and pollution of the rivers. Only in the Yanomami territory did the Franco government make any effort to remove such invaders. The budget reserves 3.71% of the funds necessary for the efficient functioning of FUNAI and the demarcation of the remaining indigenous areas in 1995. Many expect or at least hope that the incoming government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso will invest more in the demarcation of such areas.
- Only road into indian reserve blocked in an attempt to impede demarcation.
On November 11, the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) denounced to the Procurator General's Office an attempt to impede the demarcation of the Arara do Rio Branco indigenous area situated in the municipality of Aripuana, State of Mato Grosso. According to the document, FUNAI and CIMI workers were hindered from entering the indigenous area by a person known as Luis Almeida. Almeida used hired gun-men to block the only road which enters the area. A CIMI note says that their functionaries and FUNAI personnel discovered that the blockage took place as a protest because the indians do not wish that the road dissect their area which has been designated as a forest reserve. Tension in the region has risen also due to the fact that death threats have been made against the president of the local rural workers' trade union, Eudes Nepomuceno, because of his support for the indians. According to the CIMI note, apart from Almeida, town councilor of Aripuana, Altamiro Girardi, and public functionary, Alberto Veiga Kaipper, are the people responsible for drumming up opposition against the indians, trade union members and missionaries in the region. CIMI has called for a federal police inquiry so that recent events "which constitute a crime against the demarcation of indigenous territories, against the indians' rights and against the physical and moral integrity of the Arara people" may be investigated.
LAND ISSUES
- 5985 victims of land violence.
According to the only statistics available, those gathered by the Land Pastoral Commission (CPT), there have been 5985 victims of land violence amongst rural workers (small farmers, landless rural workers, titleless farmers and also professionals such as lawyers and pastoral workers who accompanied such workers) in the recent history of Brazil. This total includes 1959 people who have been killed and 4026 who have been injured or wounded in such conflicts. The statistics go back to the 1960s. Apart from the 1959 rural workers who have died, a further 298 have been killed. This latter figure includes hired gun-men, ranchers, police and ranch employees. The number of injured from this group has been 161. Last year 71 people died in land conflicts (52 rural workers and 19 from the latter category) and 2069 were wounded or injured (21 from the non rural workers category). In the South of the State of Para alone, the CPT has registered 190 violent deaths due to land problems between 1980 and 1993.
- Report from Rio Maria.
Over recent months, we have published information on land violence in the Rio Maria and Xinguara regions of the State of Para. Even though the situation is still very tense there, much progress has been made due in large part to international pressure in the form of protest messages sent to the relevant authorities. This week we bring you a copy of the latest bulletin of the Rio Maria Committee which describes this positive progress and again appeals for your solidarity by writing to the judge who will preside the upcoming trial of the accused assassins of Expedito Ribeiro de Souza. TRIAL DATE FOR THE MURDER OF EXPEDITO
At last! The trial which the Rio Maria Committee has been trying to get for over three years is finally scheduled to take place in Belem on December 16. This is the first of the Rio Maria cases in which not only the accused gunman, but also the rancher charged with ordering the murder and his manager, who is believed to have contracted the gunman, will be tried. The change of venue from Rio Maria to Belem, which, thanks to your letters last year, we succeeded in obtaining, has increased the likelihood of a just outcome. Now we need letters to the judge to give further support to a fair trial, in the face of pressures that will likely be coming from ranchers and conservative politicians. A suggested text in English follows: Exma. Sra. Dra. Maria de Nazare Silva Juiza de Direito da 1a. Vara Criminal Palacio de Justica Praca Felipe Patrone, s/n 66.000-000 Belem, Para, Brasil Fax: 011-55-91-241-2970 Your Excellency: I have learned that you will be presiding over the trial of those accused of the murder of Expedito Ribeiro de Souza, which will take place in the Palace of Justice in Belem on December 16, and that this is the first time that in a trial for a crime linked to land problems in the South of Para, those charged will include a rancher, a gunman, and the accused intermediary. I am confident that you will see to it that this trial will be conducted in an exemplary manner and that the confidence of the people in the system of justice will be restored.
Respectfully,
Please send copies of your letter to: Ambassador Paulo Tarso Flecha de Lima Gelma Coelho Brazilian Embassy 12 Cross St., East, #3 3006 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. Somerville, MA 02145 Washington, DC 20008 (Secretary of the Committee) BACKGROUND INFORMATION
After three years of drawn-out judicial processes, with four changes of venue, the case of the assassination of Expedito Ribeiro de Souza has finally come to a jury trial. Those to be tried include the owner of the Nazare Ranch, Jeronimo Alves de Amorim, his manager, Francisco de Assis Ferreira, believed to have been the go-between with the gunman, and the accused gunman, Jose' Serafim Sales, known as "Barreirito." Expedito was a 43-year-old farmer, father of ten children, a poet, and the President of the Union of Rural Workers of Rio Maria. He was brutally murdered on February 2, 1991, on the street where he lived, as he was returning home from the union hall. The killing of Expedito was the most recent in a series of seven murders and two attempted murders of people associated with the movement to protect the rights of peasant farmers. UPDATE ON XINGUARA In September we requested letters to protest the violence in the town of Xinguara, which has spilled over into Rio Maria with the threats against the lives of Father Ricardo Rezende and Father Henri Des Roziers. We are happy to report that these letters have resulted in investigations by the local and Federal police. There is now an arrest order against Jose' Luiz de Freitas, the rancher who is believed to have hired a gunman to kill Father Ricardo (which did not happen because the gunman was arrested in the process of trying to carry out another contracted murder). Freitas has fled from Xinguara and has not yet been captured.
- The CPT and the land question.
The Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) published a document on October 20 entitled "The Land Question and the Pastoral Land Commission in the 1990s". The document has been translated by Jack Hammond and posted on at least one conference by ACTIV-AL. We reproduce the translation since we know many of our regular readers are interested in its contents.
The Land Question and the Pastoral Land Commission in the 1990s.
"Go to the crossroads and invite everyone you meet to the party" (Matthew 22, 9)
We, pastoral agents and coordinators of the Pastoral Land Commission of all the states of Brazil, meeting in Goiania, Goiais, from October 17 to October 20, 1994, are holding the national seminar, "The Land Question and the Pastoral Land Commission in the 1990s." We are presenting an evaluation of the situation in which the workers are living, discussing the development model, considering the variety of social actors in the countryside, the culture, ethics, and mystique, the state and public space, and the struggle for the land and on the land during the 1990s. Now that the general elections have been held and the new President of the Republic, the members of the state legislatures and the national congress have been determined, the CPT [Comissa~o Pastoral da Terra, Pastoral Land Commission] wishes to inform Brazilian society and the new federal and state governments: a) the CPT denounces that, just the opposite of the previous elections, in this electoral campaign the amount of violence in the countryside increased, involving murders and attempted murders of farmworkers during the period immediately before the elections. This was true, among other cases, of the squatters of Pinhao (Parana); the president of the Farmworkers Union of Eldorado, and the threats against the religious leaders and popular movement leaders in Xinguara and Rio Maria (Para), the president of the Farmworkers Union in Apui (Amazonas) and in Imperatriz (Maranhao). We call to the attention of the president-elect his responsibility in the leadership of the agrarian reform process, which demands a firm and clear position to put an end to violence and impunity in the countryside; b) Agrarian reform, a necessary condition for men and women farmworkers to achieve real citizenship, is still a public and social debt of the government to the Brazilian people. The order of priorities and the budgetary shortfall raise serious doubts about the realization of agrarian reform on the part of the future government. As an example, we point out the case of PROCERA, which in 1995 will have approximately 44 million reais available, when more than 150 million reais will be needed to make the existing settlements viable. (Note = one real equals approximately US $1.17). This amount is laughable when compared to the 20 billion reais to be paid to Brazilian and international bankers in interest. Even worse, there is speculation that a banker will become Minister of Agriculture. The CPT is concerned about the present struggle over this position and repudiates the possibility that it might be occupied by people historically opposed to agrarian reform. We are further concerned that the history of the last two governments' unfulfilled promises of settlements will be repeated by the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, whose goal of settling 40,000 families in the first year of his government, is already in trouble in the budget being proposed to the National Congress, where resources sufficient to settle only 10,000 families are anticipated; c) we condemn the renewed clearcutting and burning of forests in various regions of the country. Especially in Acre, where thousand of hectares of Amazon forest are being turned into ashes. We conclude, once again, that the present model of development is a perverse one which leads to the concentration of wealth and excludes much of the population and therefore does not respond to the concerns of society, especially of the man and woman of the countryside. The neoliberal project deepens the economic, social, and cultural exclusion of the majority of Brazilian urban and rural workers. We continue by expressing our opposition to the proposed law of industrial property (House of Deputies, Number 824.91), currently under consideration in the Federal Senate, patent law, which gives life itself over to private enterprise [privatiza a vida] and reinforces the concentration of technology and wealth. We testify, further, that the court system has generally been an instrument for the perpetuation of the monopoly of private property and of violence against the families of rural workers. We increasingly perceive that the power of the courts is antisocial, obstinate and partial and that it works efficiently only to favor the interests of the powerful people of the country. The CPT is confident in the strength of an organized civil society, through the diverse popular actors who arise with values and experiences which point to a new project of society and the democratization of the state. That will become a reality through the formulation and construction of public policies, holding accountable and managing projects which overcome social and economic exclusion, establishing partnerships and building citizenship through shared councils, open forums, and participation in the elaboration and execution of public budgets. There have been innumerable specific experiences which show the way to the new project which involves associations and cooperatives of settlements and small-scale, family-run agroindustrialization. Among the many initiatives being undertaken all over the country, we mention the RECA Project (Acre), ACARAM (Rondonia), Mixed Cooperative of Floreano (Piaui), Family-Schools (ES, Para, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Parana, Sao Paulo, Goiais, Rondonia), Small Producers' Credit Cooperatives (Santa Catarina). The CPT feels the faith of the rural workers and the strength of their resistance and thereby renews its hope and its dream for a decent life for everyone in the countryside and repeats the call: "Go to the crossroads and invite everyone you meet to the party" (Matthew 22, 9).
ECOLOGY
- Large part of the Atlantic Rainforest has been destroyed in the State of Rio de Janeiro.
According to ecologists in Rio de Janeiro attached to the National Network for the Protection of the Atlantic Rainforest, in the last nine years at least 30579 hectares of this forest have been destroyed. The greatest offenders have been farmers who have cleared such areas for crops and animal production. The State of Rio de Janeiro looses approximately 1% of its forest cover each year in this way or through forest fires. According to 1990 figures, only 20.24% of the original forest cover in the state remains intact reports "O Globo" in an article of October 31. The worst period of forest destruction in the state was between 1912 and 1960 when half of the forest was destroyed. The consequences of such widespread deforestation were noted at the beginning of this year by the State Institute of Forestry (IEF): large areas in the north-east of the state are becoming desert.
- End of Greenpeace's protest campaign in Brazil.
On November 01, Greenpeace held a last public act of protest in its recent international protest campaign in Brazil. During an hour, members of the organization stopped the loading of 7 thousand tons of timber on to a Maltese ship in the port of Belem. A large banner inscribed :Mahogany for exportation, devastation for Brazil" was hung on the ship. Some of the Greenpeace activists chained themselves to the cranes loading the timber in order to bring the loading to a standstill. Others painted the sign "Forest destruction: export type" on stacks of timber ready for embarkation. According to the campaign coordinator of Greenpeace, Jose Padua, IBAMA (the Brazilian government environment agency) does not have an infrastructure to check out deforestation in the Amazon region.
- Hidrovia project already has started according to denouncement.
In recent weeks we have carried reports about the proposed construction of the Hidrovia linking Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia. Environmental groups have expressed grave concern about the likely damage this project will cause especially in the Brazilian Pantanal area. It is also feared that widespread social, economic and cultural problems will be caused if the project goes ahead. The following report, posted in the amb.pantanal conference during the last week suggests that the governments concerned will pay little attention to concerned groups and that plans for starting the project are under way even before an environmental impact study has been carried out.
ALERT: INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE ON HIDROVIA INITIATES PLANS FOR ALTERATIONS IN PARAGUAY RIVER
CIH jumps the gun on projects potentially damaging to Pantanal, Chaco wetlands
The Intergovernmental Committee on the Hidrovia (CIH) has begun to develop a plan for licensing construction companies to explode rock formations at the mouth of the Pantanal and to begin extensive dragging of the Paraguay and Parana Rivers. During its latest meeting on Oct 20 and 21, CIH delegates representing the governments of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina approved a plan for the "correction" of the Paraguay River rock formation at Paso Remanso Castillo. The Paraguayan delegation announced that the preparation of the licensing of bids for the explosion of rock outcrops at Paso de Remanso will be its contribution to the Hidrovia project. The CIH also created an Emergency Committee to devise a plan for the dragging of the Paraguay and Parana Rivers, from the Apa river (Paraguay) to Santa Fe (Argentina). The CIH decided that this dragging of the river was urgently needed to ensure continuity of river transport, in light of the serious drought situations in the upper Paraguay Basin. The destruction of rock formations along the Paraguay river is thought to be one of the principal environmental threats posed by the construction of the Hidrovia. Thus, an intensive series of environmental impact studies is planned by the Inter-american Development Bank, potentially the major funder of construction of the Hidrovia, which would begin in January, and take 18 months to complete. The actions of the CIH in this case represent an attempt to circumvent the environmental assessment process, and the formulation of such plans behind closed doors, with no participation by non-governmental organizations or populations impacted by the project, runs counter to the Bank's stated policy of facilitating public input into the elaboration of the Hidrovia studies.
CHILDREN'S ISSUES
- Increase in assassination of children in Pernambuco.
The number of children and adolescents assassinated in the State of Pernambuco is expected to be an all time record this year. A survey published on November 04 by the Secretariat for Public Security shows that until September, 141 minors were assassinated in the state. This represents a monthly average of 15.6 assassinations and is 50% higher than the monthly average of the last six years. According to the survey, 83% of the minors assassinated had no police record. Most were assassinated in the center of the state capital, Recife and 90% were between 15 and 18 years of age. The numbers published by the Secretariat coincide with similar figures published by human rights NGOs in the state. The initiative by the Secretariat to publish the figures represents a significant advance since until the present it did not admit the assassination of large numbers of minors in the state.
RACE QUESTIONS
- Lawyers' organization brings government to court on a crime against humanity accusation.
The Council for Citizenship of the Sao Paulo section of the Lawyers' Association (OAB) plans to bring a court action against the federal government to force it to officially recognize that slavery was a crime against humanity and to force it to compensate Afro-Brazilians for the injustices they suffered since the beginning of the colonization of Brazil. The compensation demanded may be in money. The case will be brought in the name of Maria do Carmo Jeronimo who is 123 years old and was born six months before the abolition of slavery. She is the oldest woman in Brazil and according to the church registers in Carmo de Minas she was born there on March 05, 1871. According to lawyers Maria da Penha Guimaraes and Jairo Fonseca who are accompanying the case, Maria do Carmo "is the only live witness that the slaves and their descendants could not fully exercise their citizenship". Both lawyers feel that it will not only be a classic but also a difficult case.
URBAN QUESTIONS
- Protest against military involvement against violence.
The Torture Never Again group published a statement on November 03 in which it protests against the involvement of the armed forces in the anti-violence campaign in the city of Rio de Janeiro. In recent weeks the military took control of this campaign in the city after an agreement was signed by the state governor and President Itamar Franco. The statement says that "the armed forces should never be authorized to attack and overcome points in the shanty towns (favelas) and in areas where the poor population lives. As well it will not be through the use of powerful arms such as tanks, cannons, rockets, airplanes etc that the problem of violence in Rio will be resolved". According to the statement "the trafficking of arms and drugs and the fatal consequences for society is not only carried out by the shanty town population". Such trafficking would not exist without "the collaboration of the owners of planes, of large areas of land, of illegal landing strips and corrupt functionaries in the customs and on the frontiers". According to the group, the distribution of drugs is merely one link in an entire chain which should be destroyed and calls on the armed forces to redouble their efforts to ensure that material and arms be no longer stolen from military stores and depots.
- Favelas grow 15% a year in Sao Paulo.
The Foundation of the Institute of Economic Research (FIEP) of the University of Sao Paulo stated that the favela population in the city of Sao Paulo increased 15% this past year. This is an increase far greater than the rest of the city. With this increase of the favela population, there is a fear that violence as is happening in Rio will arrive here in the city in the near future. The police deputies in the more violent police districts of the city say that the control of drugs in the Sao Paulo favelas is not under the control of organized gangs as it is in Rio. For many of these police deputies the big difference between Rio and Sao Paulo is the fact that the distribution of heavy drugs in Sao Paulo takes place outside of the favelas. Another factor that distinguishes the favelas of Sao Paulo from those of Rio is that parallel policing power in the Sao Paulo favelas is controlled by 'assassins', whereas in Rio, this authority is exercised by the 'drug traffickers'.
WOMEN'S ISSUES
- Sterilization of women in Brazil.
The index of mass sterilization of women in Brazil is grave. Calculations of the Health Ministy estimate that 25 million Brazilian women have been sterilized. The index of sterlized women is greater in the poorest areas of the country (the northeast and central-west). 75.9% of the women in the State of Maranhao are sterilized. 71.9% in Goias and 63.3% in Mato Grosso. The incidence of sterilization is higher in Afro-brasilian women revealing a racist component to this procedure. The majority of the sterilizations are done immediately after a women gives birth to a child. In a country where birth control methods are almost the most expensive in the world, sterilization has become the most common form of birth control in Brazil. Denouncements continue to be made that many firms demand a pregnancy test at the time of a job interview and even subsidize sterilization surgeries. Sterilization is prohibited by law and by the medical ethical code. We are not talking about sterilization curative or therapeutic that occurs in cases such as removal of a tumor but are speaking of sterilization as a contraceptive method, voluntary, coerced or induced. Why are so many women being sterilized in Brazil? Why are youth and even adolescents being sterilized? There exists in the National Congress a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry to investigate the incidence of mass sterilization. The Kissinger Report, a secret document of the National Security Council (1974) reports on "The Implications of World-wide Population Growth on the Security and External Interests of the United States". This document lists as a priority birth-rate control in 13 key countries in the Third World, but especially in Brazil. Extraordinary resources were allotted to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement the policy of birth- rate control. Population increase in the third world countries is seen as a grave and serious threat to the security and interests of the U.S. The document states " over the last decades, the U.S. has become more dependent on the importation of minerals from developing countries and this situation will probably continue. In extreme cases, in which population growth leads to endemic hunger and social disorder, these conditions are not favorable to the systematic exploitation of mineral deposits nor to the long term investments that are necessary for the utilization of these deposits". With a population of more than 150 million, Brazil demographically dominates the continent. Over the next 25 years, Brazil will have a major influence in Latin America and the world. In order to control population growth, the document concludes that sterilization of men and women is a simple, rapid and secure method. The implications of these policies have had far-reaching effects in Brazil. The right to be born is integrally linked with the right to live and grow in a healthy manner. The people of the developing countries need to organize themselves to fight against interventions from the first world to control maternity.
INTERNATIONAL
- US Defense Secretary visits Brazil
A little over a year ago, many in the Brazilian Military establishment, along with a number of politicians, were shouting cry that the Amazon region was being surrounded by American troops who were having maneuvers in one of the neighboring countries to Brazil. Yesterday, William Perry, US Defense Secretary arrived in Manaus, capital of Amazonas, where he was given an official welcome and visited some the Brazilian army bases in the area. The protests of alarm raised over a year ago have faded and the dialogue between the military of both countries seem to have improved. A sign of this is seen in the awarding of the Air Warning System for the Amazon to a American multinational. Recently there has been, on the part of the US government, a relaxing of the restrictions for the exportation of sensitive technology. This has intensified the contacts between the military of both countries and has created an atmosphere of greater confidence. The "Estado de S.Paulo" (17/11/94) says that a high functionary of the Pentagon indicated that William Perry will recognize Brazil as "a regional power" and this will be seen as "cementing the relations" between the two countries in the areas of defense and security. The Defense Secretary will visit the Aerospace Center in Sao Jose dos Campos were he will inspect the 'Super-Tucano' a training plane that the Brazilian government would like to sell to the US Armed Forces.
================================================================== The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is cited. If you wish to contact us or receive NEWS FROM BRAZIL free of charge by e-mail send a message to sejup@ax.apc.org ================================================================== |
|
|
