e Paz).

Number 232, June 20, 1996.

CHURCHES

- Study shows trends in evangelical churches.

Brazil is the largest Catholic country in the world and also

the largest Protestant country in South America according to

recent figures. Half of the 50 million evangelicals in the entire

continent are found in Brazil. Perhaps because of the fast growth

of evangelicals, little was known about how they think, vote and

live. With the publication of a recent survey of the Superior

Institute of Studies of Religion (ISER) entitled "A New Birth:

The Evangelicals at Home, in the Church and in Politics" (Novo

Nascimento: Os Evangelicos em Casa, na Igreja e na Politica) many

unsurveyed areas have been explored.

The study was carried out in the greater Rio de Janeiro

region - including the municipalities of Rio de Janeiro, Nova

Iguacu, Duque de Caxias, Sao Joao de Mereti, Niteroi and Sao

Goncalo. It shows that between 1992 and 1994, almost 300 thousand

people joined the evangelical churches. "Catholicism is no longer

the dominant religious reference point to which the other

religions have to adopt themselves. This has had repercussions in

different aspects of our life ranging from the political strength

of the Catholic Church to family costumes" commented sociologist

Cecilia Mariz who prepared a chapter in the study dealing with

family and reproduction. The survey found 53 evangelical

denominations in the Greater Rio area.

The ISER study shows that approximately 70% of evangelicals

in the Greater Rio area were not born or grew up in evangelical

homes but became members of such denominations as youth or

adults. 61% were formerly catholics. This fact has caused a

certain amount of controversy and has provoked specialists to ask

what definition is used for former catholics. According to

theologian and sociologist Alberto Antoniazzi, the evangelical

churches "recruit catholics who were already outside of the

Church". Cecilia Mariz commented that "in the study, we accepted

as catholics those who affirmed that they had been catholics and

not only those who had been baptized. The Catholic Church

considers those who do not practice as catholics". For many

experts, the evangelical advance should encourage the Catholic

Church to reflect on the question of ministry and the fact that

few and very specialized persons have access to this area,

whereas in the evangelical church such access is taken for

granted. Clergy formation is but one example - in the Catholic

Church it takes at least seven years to prepare for ordination;

in the evangelical churches pastors are prepared quite frequently

in periods as short as four months. The Basic Ecclesial

Communities (CEBs) encouraged by the Catholic Church since the

1960s as a means of reaching especially the poorer sections of

the community have been recently suffering a noticeable decline.

Experts in the area feel that the Catholic Church needs to

rethink its' approach especially in large urban centers.

Why have so many catholics joined the evangelical churches?

According to Antoniazzi "when it comes to urgent problems which

people have to face such as hunger, health problems, family

disagreements and spiritual disorientation, the Catholic Church

seems to be less agile and attentive". However he stresses that

at a wider level, the Catholic Church enjoys a huge credibility.

"You only need consult the public opinion surveys carried out by

the newspapers" to confirm this fact according to Antoniazzi. 30%

of the evangelicals however consider Catholicism as a demoniac

religion according to the ISER survey. But topping the list as

demoniac for 95% of the evangelicals are the afro-brazilian

religions (umbanda and candomble). Only 52% regarded atheists in

the same light.

The study shows that the support of evangelicals for a

candidate could now ensure that such a person be elected to

public office. In 1994, evangelicals made up 10% of the voters.

Catholic sympathetic to the theology of liberation for example

made up only 2% and those belonging to the Charismatic Renovation

3.8%. Voting trends can be distinguished from the survey. During

the presidential elections of 1994 in the Universal Church of the

Reign of God for example, the rejection of the Workers' Party

(PT) candidate, Lula was very high - 56% voted for Fernando

Henrique Cardoso as opposed to 6% for Lula. Lula gained a 19%

vote in the general population and only a 13% vote amongst all

the evangelicals. 95% of the members of the Universal Church of

the Reign of God voted for candidates, members of the church in

the 1994 election.

(Source: "Jornal do Brasil", June 15, 1996)

SOCIAL QUESTIONS

- UN report shows three different Brazilian realities.

Brazil is made up of what could be termed three sub

countries according to a report launched on June 17 by the United

Nations Program for Development and by the Institute of Applied

Economic Surveys (IPEA). During a year, teams from both

organizations worked on 1991 data dealing with such topics as

income, life expectancy and education in Brazil. A table known as

the Index for Human Development showing the ranking of each state

was then prepared.

On a world scale, Brazil was placed in 63rd. place out of a

total of 174 and follows other Latin American countries such as

Argentina (30th), Uruguay (32nd), Chile (33rd), Venezuela (47th),

Mexico (53rd) and Colombia (57th). Seven states within Brazil

presented a ranking higher than the Latin American average which

was 0.823. These include the Federal District and the States of

Sao Paulo, Santo Catarina, Rio de Janeiro, Parana and Mato Grosso

do Sul. The State of Rio Grande do Sul for example had a ranking

of 0.871, Sao Paulo had a ranking similar to Mexico or Poland

while Rio de Janeiro could be compared to Mexico or Thailand.

On the middle of the scale of human development come the

States of Amazonas, Amapa, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Goias,

Rondonia and Roraima. Amazonas measured 0.797 and Rondonia 0.715

on the scale which places them in a position similar to east

European countries such as Bulgaria or Albania. The less

developed parts of the country included Para, Acre and the nine

north-eastern states. The north-east region measured 0.548 on the

scale.

Even though it ranked in 14th place amongst Brazilian

states, Roraima has the highest life expectancy average in the

country - 75.8 years. Amapa which was in 10th place is in third

place of life expectancy - 73 years. According to the report, the

life average is higher in both of these states due to low

population density and reasonable basic sanitation. Since a large

portion of the population in both states live on river margins

and have a significant amount of fish in their diets the

consumption of proteins is on average higher than in other

regions. This is supplemented by the consumption of carbohydrates

available especially from the high local consumption of mandioc.

Lowest life expectancy was recorded in Paraiba (an average

of 53.7 years) and Rio Grande do Norte (54.6 years). However,

even in these states life expectancy has risen. In 1970 it stood

at 43.8 years and 40.6 years respectively. The State of Paraiba

has the largest rate of infant mortality in the country - 174

deaths for every 100 thousand births. This latter statistic

lowers significantly the figure for life expectancy in the state.

According to the report, Sao Paulo is the state with best

educational conditions in the country. Approximately 10% of the

population of the state is illiterate. In the State of Alagoas

this figure stands at 45%. The national average is 20%. In Sao

Paulo the average time spent in school is 4.5 years. In the

Federal District it is 6.1 years and in Alagoas 1.9 years.

The report also shows that almost one in three Brazilians

has an income which is insufficient to cater for their basic

needs. 41.9 million people live under the poverty level. The

average income of the richest 10% of the population is 30 times

greater than the average income of the 40% poorest. However,

poverty is not evenly spread between the regions. Poverty is more

acute in the north-east. Northeastern families are also larger

and illiteracy is more widespread - 67.6% of heads of households

in the region are illiterate and 44.7% of the children are not in

school. Sao Paulo is the state where the largest number of people

under the poverty level are found (5.1 million) followed by Bahia

(4.9 million) and Minas Gerais (4.4 million). In the Federal

District there are 300 thousand such people.

LAND ISSUES

- Army may be called in to prevent protests.

Minister Raul Jungmann who is responsible for the area of

agrarian reform threatened on June 18 to call in the army to

prevent landless rural families from protesting in the regional

offices of INCRA (the government land agency). 6 regional offices

have been occupied by the landless in the last two weeks in an

effort to put pressure on state and federal governments to carry

out an agrarian reform.

The situation in Rio de Janeiro is an example of what

happened in the other five regional offices. On June 18, landless

workers from various parts of the state occupied the INCRA

offices in the center of Rio de Janeiro. The landless occupied

the office in order to put pressure on INCRA to disappropriate 26

areas in the state for projects of agrarian reform; all of the

areas in question are not being productively used at the moment.

In the late evening on June 18, the landless decided to withdraw

from the offices but decided to sleep in the square in front of

the building in order to keep up the pressure.

The federal police in the State of Maranhao claim that

landless workers killed four functionaries on the Cikel ranch in

the municipality of Buriticupu on June 12 and named six members

of the landless organization (MST) whom they held responsible for

the deaths. The state director of the MST in Maranhao, Jonas

Borges, stated that four of the six named did not belong to his

organization. He claims that a fifth was at a meeting in the

Secretariat of Agriculture when the functionaries were killed.

In the State of Sao Paulo, the MST restarted the occupation

of ranches in the Pontal de Paranapanema region on June 17. Three

ranches were occupied by the landless families in the region

which has been the scene of numerous land conflicts in recent

years. According to Laercio Barbosa of the MST coordination in

the region, the occupations have started again because the

Government of the State of Sao Paulo has failed to carry out its

promise to settle 2100 landless families by June.

- Hired gun-man condemned to 28 years imprisonment.

Hired gun-man, Natal Ferreira de Souza was tried on June 12

in the city of Colmeia, State of Tocantins for the assassination

of rural leader Raimundo Candido Mendes and the attempted

assassination of the present president of the Trade Union of

Rural Workers, Jose Pereira Matos. The trial took place in very

tense circumstances before of fears that rancher Jose Francisco

Freitas Filho who ordered the assassination would provoke a

tumult in Colmeia when the trial was taking place.

During the trial witnesses confirmed that the accused and

another two hired gun-men (Ruberval Cardoso Deodato and Cabeludo

de Tal) who have since fled were contracted by the rancher and

his son, Jose Francisco de Freitas Filho to assassinate both

rural leaders. During the trial, the ranchers' lawyer blamed

workers' organizations and the Catholic Church for the rural

violence in the region. On June 13, Jose Francisco de Freitas

Filho was arrested in the town of Miracema de Tocantins on the

strength of an arrest warrant issued on the day before the trial.

He had fled to avoid arrest; organizations accompanying the case

hope that now he too will soon be brought to trial. The local

Land Pastoral Commission (CPT) in thanking individuals and

organizations who sent messages requesting the condemnation of

the accused informs that these messages were also read out during

the trial as a means to ensure the condemnation of Natal Ferreira

de Souza.

VIOLENCE

- Lack of preparation blamed for police deaths.

The lack of professional preparation is the chief cause of

deaths and injuries to military police on duty in Rio de Janeiro

according to a report prepared two weeks ago. The report studied

the circumstances of the deaths of 248 military police and

injuries sustained by a further 886 between January 1995 and May

1996. The conclusions drawn by the report contradict affirmations

made by the Secretary for Public Security in the State of Rio de

Janeiro, General Nilton Cerqueira, which blamed the energetic

response of police in frequent combat with criminals as the

principal cause of police deaths and injuries.

According to the report, the lack of preparation of the

police can be verified in the inadequate manner in which the

police approach suspects on many occasions, in not following

official orientations for the use of arms, the lack of training

in the use of guns and on stress. Added to this is the non-use of

protection equipment on many occasions such as bullet proof vests

and helmets as well as the lack of planned action. The salary

levels of the military police are also blamed in the report; many

police have been killed while working in a second employment such

as private security in an effort to increase their incomes.

Of the 248 registered police deaths relating to the 17

months studied in the report, 77 were of off-duty police, 23 died

in shoot-outs, 25 died during assaults on buses and 19 were due

to accidents. Of the 886 military police who were injured during

the same period, 468 were on duty. 167 were injured in shoot-outs

with criminals, 166 were injured in car accidents and 50 were

accidentally injured by gun-fire.

- Deaths in prison rebellions.

On June 10, 18 people were taken as hostages in a prison

escape attempt in Cuiaba, State of Mato Grosso. The hostage

taking happened during a break out attempt by prisoners. In all,

fifteen prisoners managed to escape - five were later recaptured.

During an exchange of gun-fire military policeman Jurandir

Alberto da Anunciacao was killed.

The group which managed to flee took 12 workers in a factory

which manufactures electrical wiring in the jail as hostages.

They rammed the principal exit of the prison with a truck

belonging to the company and managed to escape. At the same time

another group of 40 prisoners invaded the offices of the prison

and took six functionaries, including prison director Silvio

Feitoso, as hostages. This second group also attempted to flee

but the truck used by the first group blocked the exit. In all

approximately 150 of the 219 prisoners in the jail joined in the

rebellion.

The rebellion came to an end on the morning of June 11.

Apart from the military policeman who was killed at the outbreak

of the rebellion, three prisoners who attempted to escape were

killed. The State Secretary for Justice, Hermes de Abreu,

commented that the break-out "was to be expected due to the

state of bankruptcy of the prison system in the state". At the

moment there is a lack of 600 spaces in prisons in Mato Grosso.

Another prison rebellion also took place in Sao Vicente,

State of Sao Paulo and came to an end on June 10. Eight prison

workers and 50 visitors were held as hostages. Two prisoners who

managed to escape were later found dead.

INDIGENOUS ISSUES

- Newsletter from the Indigenous Missionary Council

Newsletter n. 214

CIMI ORGANIZES SEMINAR ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

Together with the Consumer, Environment and Minorities Commission

of the Chamber of Deputies, CIMI organized the seminar ``The State and

Indigenous Peoples,'' which was held on June 11-12. The seminar

addressed controversial issues related to the constitutional rights of

indigenous peoples, constantly neglected by the Brazilian State, at a

moment when the federal administration is examining opinions on claims

against the existence or size of indigenous areas. Three main topics

were discussed at the seminar, namely, ``The Role of the State in

Ensuring Indigenous Rights,'' ``Indigenous Territorial Rights,'' and

``Demarcation Procedures: Decree 1,775/96.'' The Pro-Indian Commission

of Sao Paulo, the Office of the Attorney General, CAPOIB, Funai and

Federal Deputies took part in the seminar as debaters.

On the first day, two unjustifiable and disrespectful absences

were registered: that of the president of Funai, Julio Gaiger, and

that of the superintendent of the Federal Police, Vicente Chellotti.

Deputy Ivan Valente (PT-SP), who presided over the works, said that

the importance attached to the topic by those authorities shows how

the executive branch is domineering about it. The lecturer invited to

address the first topic, Federal Judge Tourinho Neto, strongly

defended the right of indigenous peoples to the land. He criticized

the policies adopted by the government to ``integrate'' Indians into

national society, destroying their customs and traditions.

CIMI's advisor, Paulo Machado, reaffirmed the concept of

indigenous territorial rights, which is being contested by the

Ministry of Justice. Anthropologist Enio Barreto denounced that since

1993 the pace of land demarcations has slowed down and warned that

Decree 1,775/96 represents the fourth change in demarcation procedures

in Brazil in the last 13 years. The last lecturer, renowned jurist

Dalmo de Abreu Dallari, said that the Union has never placed priority

on the demarcation of indigenous areas and that this is why public

funds have always been insufficient for this purpose. He denounced

that the new decree is full of legal imperfections, the most obvious

of which is the validity of certain land ownership rights of squatters

and invaders of indigenous areas, which were annulled by the

Constitution. Dallari said that the new decree favors invasions of

demarcated indigenous areas and indemnity claims in bad faith.

FUNAI ISSUES OPINIONS ON CLAIMS AGAINST THE EXISTENCE OR SIZE OF

INDIGENOUS AREAS

According to the press, the president of Funai, Julio Gaiger,

delivered 536 opinions on claims against the existence or size of

indigenous areas to the Ministry of Justice on June 10. However, no

explanations were provided about the criteria that were used to reduce

the number of those claims, as according to the former director of

Funai's Land Department, Isa Pacheco, the agency received over 1,800

claims. Gaiger admitted that ``as demanded by Indian-supporting

entities,'' no claims were accepted, but he revealed that at least two

areas will have their bounds reviewed: Cachoeira Seca (Kaiapo) and

Apyterewa (Parakana~), both of which are located in the state of Para.

The minister of Justice, Nelson Jobim, has a deadline of 30 days to

analyze Funai's opinions. Refusing to accept these opinions, the

company Sattin Agropecuaria e Imoveis asked the Supreme Federal Court

to continue to judge an injunction which may annul the demarcation of

the Sete Cerros indigenous area in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul,

belonging to the Guarani-Kaiowa.

Brasilia, 14 June 1996

The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the

source is cited.