Number 198, September 28, 1995

INDIGENOUS ISSUES

Newsletter n. 177

SUICIDE RATE AMONG THE GUARANI-KAIOWA

IS THE HIGHEST IN THE LAST TEN YEARS

The number of suicides among the Guarani-Kaiowa Indians in the

state of Mato Grosso do Sul rose to 38. The last one, of a girl aged

nine, was registered in September. According to Funai itself, the

suicide rate this year is the highest in the last 10 years, exceeding

the 34 cases registered in 1990. The situation is truly alarming and

the Chamber of Deputies and Indianist agencies are worried with it. So

far, the government has not issued any statement about it.

On October 3, the Human Rights Commission will be holding a public

audience to discuss the problem with anthropologists and Indianist

agencies. On the 27th and 28th of the same month, the External

Commission for the Inspection of the Demarcation of Indian Lands will

go to Mato Grosso do Sul to check in loco the overpopulation problem

that has confined about 30 thousand Indians in 22 villages.

According to Funai, 183 suicides were registered in the last 10

years, 40% of which of adolescents aged less than 16. In 1994, the

annual average was two suicides at every 30-day period, and this year

the average rose to 4 cases in a month.

RORAIMA IS THE FIRST STATE TO BE VISITED BY EXTERNAL COMMISSION

Beginning with a visit to the Raposa Serra do Sol area on the 20th

and 21st of September, the External Commission of the Chamber of

Deputies in charge of inspecting the demarcation of Indian lands,

which is made up of eight deputies, will be on a field mission to

collect information on the situation of the area and on conflicts

which have been jeopardizing the demarcation of Indian lands. With

this purpose in view, the deputies will meet Indians, non-Indians, and

local authorities. On October 8-9 it will visit the Krikati Indian

area, located in the state of Maranhao, and on the 27th and 28th of

the same month it will visit the Guarani-Kaoiwa, in Mato Grosso do

Sul.

SENATE APPROVES THE USE OF FUNDS PROVIDED BY THE G-7

Last Friday, September 15, the Federal Senate passed Legislative

Decree n. 109, which approves bilateral acts signed between the

Brazilian and the German governments on April 6 to be applied to

environmental projects. One of the financial cooperation acts that

were approved is related to a joint project for protecting Indian

lands in legal Amazonia and for demarcating Indian lands as part of a

Pilot Project for protecting the Brazilian rain forests. About 30

million marks will be invested in the demarcation of 58 Indian areas

and the identification of 55 additional areas in five years.

Brasilia, September 20, 1995

HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES

- Judge authorizes police to shoot juvenile offenders

Judge Bartolomeu Bueno of the Juvenile Court in Recife in the state of Pernambuco, authorized the military police who guard the outside of the Paratibe juvenile detention centre to shoot at detainees who try to escape. He also authorized the civil employees who guard the inside of the centre to use their billy clubs on escapees. The Paratibe centre holds 87 delinquent youths, in two pavilions. 56 are awaiting trial in one building and the other 31, who are already serving sentences (considered to be socio-educational) are in the other. The judge told the Folha de Sao Paulo that, if a youth dies as the result of being shot by a policeman, the policeman will not have committed a crime. "He will have been acting in the line of duty because it is the duty of the State not to allow people to escape". He stated that "the action of a state functionary in the line of duty, according to the Penal Code, does not constitute a crime". With regard to the use of billy clubs, the judge says their use is justified "as an instrument for defense and prevention".

The judge's action caused protests from human rights groups and groups who defend children and adolescents in Recife. For Ademar Marques, who is the president of the Council for Children and Adolescents for the state of Recife, made up of government representatives and representatives from civil society, the judge's authorization is absurd, a huge step backwards, a very dangerous mistake. We are not going to change the situation by killing young people" he said.

Since its opening last August, the detention centre has already had two rebellions. Before being sent there, the youths had been detained in a prison in the centre of Recife. In July, they had rebelled and one youth had died, assassinated by other youths, according to the police. The judge maintains that the permission to shoot at the youths who try to escape is not contrary to the Statute for Children and Adolescents.

ECOLOGY

- We have received the following information from International Rivers Network concerning the planned construction of the waterway (hidrovia) using the Paraguay river system to link Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina to the Atlantic.

Subject: Important: Communique Rios Vivos Coalition

RIOS VIVOS

Paraguay-Parana-Plata Coalition

COMMUNIQUE

1. August 22 meeting between Governments and NGOs in Buenos Aires:

On August 22, the Inter-Governmental Committee on the Parana-Paraguay Hidrovia (CIH) -- the group formed by the governments of the five countries of the La Plata basin to make the Hidrovia project viable -- held a special meeting in Buenos Aires to discuss, among other things, environmental questions. For the first time, the Rios Vivos Coalition, which includes more than 300 organizations from South America, Europe, and North America, was invited to take part in one of the sessions.

Rios Vivos was represented by Silvia Ribeiro, of Redes/

Friends of the Earth Uruguay, and the Worldwide Fund for

Nature was represented by Mauricio Galinkin (Brazil) and

Gonzalo Castro (USA) and Wetlands for the Americas by Pablo Canevari.

2. Press Communique on Points of Agreement between

Governments and NGOs:

As a result of the meeting, the Inter-Governmental

Committee on Hidrovia issued a four-point "Press Communique"

on August 30, which included the following:

* The CIH understands that the engineering and environmental

impact studies now underway must consider the diverse nature of the ecosystems in the region

* The Pantanal will receive special treatment "where the

interventions TO MAKE THE HIDROVIA VIABLE will BE BASED UPON signs, buoys, communications improvements, and security measures, preserving the natural characteristics of the ecosystem (sic)"

* The studies of environmental impact assessment will be open to public scrutiny

* The process of carrying out these studies will be highly visible.

3. September 1 Meeting in Brasilia between Minister Jardim and Rios Vivos Coalition:

On September 1, there was a new meeting in Brasilia between the president of the CIH, Minister Marcelo A. de Moraes Jardim and the Rios Vivos Coalition, represented by Sergio Guimaraes/ICV, Marcos Terena/Comite Intertribal, Alcides Faria/ECOA, and Mauricio Galinkin/CEBRAC. The Minister began by detailing the CIH's considerations regarding the environment, in part expressed in the above communique. This presentation made us aware of the following information and opinions:

* In the stretch from Corumba to Caceres, in the Pantanal, the engineering works will be based upon signs, buoys, and communication. No work will be carried out which would have as its objective the passage of large barge trains. Instead, the alternative model will be smaller trains with 4 to 5 barges.

* In the same stretch, the river bed will be prepared for

passage of ships with drafts from 1.5 to 1.8 meters

* There is a proposal for the Hidrovia to not be built as far as Caceres, with a port built instead in Descalvados, 150 kilometers downstream.

* Larger barge trains will pass as far as Corumba, and will no longer go as far as Caceres.

* The Internave project, which in 1990 tried to show the economic viability of the Hidrovia, is no longer being considered. Even the name "Hidrovia" may no longer apply.

At the meeting, Rios Vivos presented a summary of its history, objectives, and principal positions regarding the

Hidrovia project. In addition, the coalition informed the

Minister of the impossibility of communication and access

to information from the CIH, until now.

4. Scheduling of an Operative Meeting on Public Participation:

At the conclusion of the meeting, an "operative" session

of the CIH was scheduled, with participation of Rios Vivos

representatives, for October 19-20, with the objective of

presenting the Studies carried out until now, and discussion

on participation by civil society. The consultants charged

with the environmental impact studies and engineering studies will be invited, as will the IDB and UNDP. The Minister

promised to provide access to all documents. Specifically,

the Coalition requested the following three:

* The first bimonthly progress report on the Engineering Studies

and those of Technical and Economic Viability, carried out by the Consortium of Hidroservice and Louis Berger EIH.

* The first progress report and Environmental Impact Evaluation,

produced by the Consortium of Taylor, Golder, Consular, and Nacional SRL.

* The latest versions of the Work Plan of the two consortia involved in the studies.

5. Initial Evaluation of Recent Developments:

Our initial evaluation is that the meetings in Buenos Aires and Brasilia opened the possibility to construct a positive process for public participation in the official discussions regarding the Hidrovia project. We believe that the current official position is a forward step in the process.

The October meeting and the handing over of the documents

requested by Rios Vivos will represent new and substantive

advances in the ability of civil society to be part of the

official process.

However, in terms of the project itself, there remain

questions regarding its economic, environmental, social, and

cultural impacts throughout the Parana and Paraguay River Basins. There has been no change in governmental positions nor in decisions underway regarding the development model for the region.

6. Observations on Issues Relating to the Pantanal in the

Hidrovia project:

There still is no official guarantee that the Pantanal has

been excluded from the engineering works of the Hidrovia project. The text of the communique released following the Buenos Aires meeting (summarized above) affirms that interventions in the region"will be based upon (terao por base) signs, buoys, and communication". In Portuguese, the term "terao por base", as used, does not exclude other works of greater impact.

In Minister Jardim's presentation in Brasilia, it was very clear to us that the Brazilian government has so far decided that the engineering works above Corumba will not be of the dimensions proposed in the 1990 Internave project.

An important point: despite this decision, those who have

studied the region know that to prepare the Paraguay River for

ships with a draft of 1.8 meters (or even 1.5 meters) means that the channel will have to be deepened through dredging. This would have broad consequences, as scientists have

shown.

All references to changes in the official position relate only to the stretch above Corumba, to Caceres. In the stretch of the Pantanal to the Rio Apa, there are strong pressures from business interests and the Bolivian government to carry out the project in its entirety, to permit passage by ships of deeper draft.

Rios Vivos considers that the impacts in other regions than the Pantanal, including the Chaco, could also be very serious, and impacts on one ecosystem will also effect others.

The Campaign is now at a new stage, where much work and attention will be required. Indigenous people who met at the beginning of September in Mato Grosso do Sul, said that their hopes that their precarious living conditions will not be adversely affected would be dealt a severe blow if the natural course of the rivers are altered: they trust that the rivers will be permitted to continue to remain alive.

Campo Grande, Brazil, September 14, 1995

Alcides Faria

ECOA - Ecologia e Acao

Secretary of the Rios Vivos Coalition Paraguay-Parana-Plata

LAND ISSUES

- President F.H. Cardoso names new INCRA president

President Fernando Henrique Cardoso decided to intervene in policy making regarding agrarian reform. After personally trying to negotiate with landless farmers, the Catholic Church and rural unions, he yesterday fired Brazilio de Araujo Neto who was the president of INCRA (National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform) and close to the Minister for Agriculture, Eduardo de Andrade Vieira - and named Francisco Graziano, who is a member of his cabinet. This decision was made at a meeting on September 26. With this, the government hopes that CONTAG (National Confederation of Agricultural Workers) will withdraw their objections to INCRA's actions because they maintained that they they could not dialogue with Brazilio de Araujo, who is a rancher. Ex-president of the Rural Society of Parana, and a rural businessman, Brazilio de Araujo was constantly in opposition to the landless peasants since he took over the INCRA in May. CONTAG had even accused him of being linked to the UDR (Ruralist Democratic Union) - a radical movement of ranchers who during the writing of the 1988 constitution were against agrarian reform. Brazilio denies this. Graziano had had an executive position in the INCRA in 1987 when Jose Sarney was President, and he has always been considered an informal spokesman for the MST (Landless peasants movement). CONTAG and the MST are now wanting Andrade Vieira to be replaced as well as they maintain he is against agrarian reform.

The situation of the landless peasants had been coming to a head in recent times, and the events in Corumbiara last month, plus other invasions, in the states of Sao Paulo, Piaui, Parana, to name just a few, plus protests from many quarters, were what pushed the government to take action.

- CNBB defends "non-violent" invasions

Dom Jaime Chemmello, who is acting president of the CNBB (National Conference of Brazilian Bishops), says that "in some cases invasion of lands can be justified". They can be justified, he says, when they are non violent and made by persons who have nothing to eat. The invaders, he says, are people who have no money, no food, and just live on promises. "The government always promises that thousands will be settled, it gives people hope and then never does what it says, which creates great tension. Agrarian reform is taking place too slowly and invasions are the only way people can make themselves heard. Perhaps invasions are illegal, but the heart does not allow us to condemn them." He says that government policy is not taking into account that agrarian reform is one way to produce food and "feed the Brazilian people". The CNBB affirms that the CPT (Land Pastoral Commission) does not incentivate invasions as some people say. It simply plays a peace-making role. The Brazilian bishops are in Brasilia at a meeting where they have criticized the government's policies on agrarian reform. Chemmello says that without agrarian reform it is prctically impossible for Brazil to reach economic development.

INDIGENOUS HUMAN RIGHTS/ECOLOGY

- Prisoner of Conscience

Environmentalist and Indigenous leader Antonio Batista (Txai) de Macedo was arrested last week, September 21, in the municipality of Cruzeiro do Sul, in the state of Acre. There had been a judicial eviction order in the area in 1991 in favour of Sebastiao Correia, a rubber plantation owner, against rubber extractors belonging to the Rubber Extractors' Association of Cruzeiro do Vale who had been living on part of his land for 29 years. The supposed owner of the land did not have legal rights (land titles) to the property. The eviction order had never been put into effect because the rubber extractors and their Indigenous neighbours got together against the police who had been sent to evict them, and they are still living on the land to this day. At the time, this provoked another order from the same judge, for the arrest of Txai Macedo who at the time was the coordinator of the National Council of Rubber Extractors of Cruzeiro do Sul. This order was "... for inciting rubber extractors to disobey an eviction order". Macedo was not in Brazil at the time. The order for the arrest of Txai Macedo provoked a great mobilization of social movements (in 1991) which resulted in a visit to the town by Senator Severo Gomes and Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro (well known human rights activist) from the Citizenship Action Committee. The great difficulties to find a lawyer in the area, as well as the political strength of the groups whom Macedo has always opposed (lumber merchants, rubber plantation owners, ranchers, sometimes one person alone holds all these positions), have resulted in Macedo being sentenced to two years. Macedo has been "adopted" by Amnesty International as a Prisoner of Conscience and he is awaiting a lawyer's arrival in Cruzeiro do Sul to defend him . His family fear for his health. His wife has received a message written by him in which he says: "I am being wronged in the name of the law... for struggling for the freedom and citizenship of those less priviledged..." This is one more event in the situation in Acre, where the governor is well known for having said during the election campaign that he would "throw out all the environmentalists and ecologists..." It was he who appointed the present judge of Cruzeiro do Sul.

The Nucleo de Cultura Indigena and Centro de Pesquisa Indigena, (Indigenous Cultural and Investigation organizations), represented by Ailton Krenak, Indigenous leader, ask that you send messages in support of Txai Macedo and of protest to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and to Minister of Justice Nelson Jobim, so that justice will be done in this case.

President Fernando Henrique Cardoso Min. Nelson Jobim

FAX: (061) 226-7566 FAX: (068)322-6817

e-mail: pr@cr-df.rnp.br e-mail: njobim@ax.apc.org

The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is cited.