Number 268, April 03, 1997.

VIOLENCE

- Scenes of police brutality and assassination shock country.

On Monday March 31, the Globo TV station showed scenes of police aggression, torture, extortion and involvement in assassination during its' evening news program which have provoked wide-scale protests and discussions about police impunity. The scenes were filmed by the hidden camera of an unknown person in the Naval shantytown (favela) in Diadema (a city in the Greater Sao Paulo area) on the nights of March 03, 05 and 07. 9 police who appeared in the film have been arrested; a tenth whose's arrest was also decreed has gone into hiding. Three high ranking officers have been removed from their command; a fourth - the commanding officer of the police involved has been imprisoned.

13 people appear on the tape shown by Globo being searched and beaten by the police. On March 03 the police were filmed hitting a man of approximately 30 years on the face and beating him for approximately five minutes with batons without resistance on his part. The March 05 tape shows police counting money which they allegedly took from victims which they stopped at the police check-point. The most callous scene was filmed on March 07 when when 30 year old Mario Jose Josino and his friends Antonio Carlos Dias and Jefferson Sanches Caputi were stopped by the police as they drove by the check-point. They offered no resistance. 29 year old Mr. Caputi was put on the car engine by the police and hit 34 times by batons on his back and on the soles of his feet. They were then ordered to drive off. As they did so policeman Otavio Lourenco Gambra (known locally as "Rambo") opened fire on the car and wounded Mr. Josino who died some hours later in a local hospital.

On the following day (March 08) two of the policemen involved in the incident were recognized by those in the car and arrested but they were freed four days later. The military police in Diadema claim that they received a copy of the tape on March 25 and reported the incident to the public prosecutor's office. On March 26 a warrant was signed for the arrest of the policemen. On April 01 the State Governor of Sao Paulo, Mario Covas, in a press interview deplored the action of the police and commented that while everything possible will be done to prevent a recurrence of such an incidence it was "impossible" to guarantee that police would never again be involved in such violence. According to local residents in the Naval favela, beatings, extortion, assassination attempts and humiliation exercises had been frequently practiced during the last three months by police at the same location. Reports claim that the group of police had imposed a 11.00 P.M. curfew on the area.

The scenes shown by Globo TV come in the context of the growing awareness of police impunity in Brazil. Nobody has been punished for example for incidents such as the massacre of 111 prisoners by military police in the Casa de Detencao prison in Sao Paulo in late 1992 or for the massacre of 19 landless farmers also by military police in Eldorado dos Carajas on April 17 of last year. Recent figures published by the ombuds-person's office of the police in Sao Paulo shows that in recent months serious complaints and accusations against the police have risen significantly. A survey carried out by the 'Folha de Sao Paulo' on April 02 showed that 74% of the population of the city of Sao Paulo is afraid of the police. Doubtlessly the recent incident in Diadema contributed to increasing this fear - a similar survey carried out in 1995 showed that 50% feared the police.

Benedito Domingos Mariano - the police ombuds-person commented on April 01 "The case of Diadema is not an isolated fact. The aggression and the murder which took place can be compared to more than 500 similar cases in which the victims were seriously wounded". Between December 1966 and February of this year, 1500 complaints have been registered against the police in Sao Paulo as compared to 601 during the same period last year - an increase of 149%. Of the complaints registered, that of murder by the police has had the largest increase (50%) during the period. Approximately 300 police were investigated during 1996 because of complaints registered in the ombuds-person's office. Of this total, five have been arrested accused of killing 13 people in 3 massacres and of three bank robberies.

Perhaps because of the widespread publicity given to the material shown by Globo TV two military police operations carried out during the early hours of March 28 in the the Realengo favela in the western region of the city of Rio de Janeiro and in Caxias - Greater Rio de Janeiro area, received less attention. In these operations seven people were killed by the police. Five died in Caxias; according to the police all were involved in drug trafficking. One of the victims in Realengo was a 16 year old adolescent.

On April 03 newspapers carried a report that military police in Dianopolis (State of Tocantins) executed a father and son (49 year old Vilmar Anastacio and his 27 year old son Wagner) on March 28. Wagner was accused of killing military policeman Francisco de Assis as he defended his 25 year old Anastacio Junior, from an attack by policeman Assis. Wounded, Wagner was taken to the local hospital where he was forcibly removed from the intensive care unit and assassinated by the police. When his father arrived at the hospital some time later, he too was sequestered by the military police and killed. The bodies of both victims also showed signs of beatings.

CHILDREN'S ISSUES

- Up to 70% of children who work need to repeat the year in school.

According to a recent study carried out by the Inter-trade Union Department of Statistics and Socio-economic Studies (DIEESE) between 60% and 70% of children in six Brazilian state capitals who work and study do not pass and need to repeat the school year. Official statistics show that approximately 5 million children between 5 and 14 years work. In the city of Recife 76% of the working children needed to repeat the school year. In the other capitals included in the study figures were as follows - Belem 74%; Goiania 62%; Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre 62% each and Belo Horizonte 52%.

According to the Dieese study, the low salaries of their parents, the lack of a policy of full-time schooling, the disimprovement of work relationships and the importance given to work by society are the reasons for the presence of large numbers of children in the work-force. "Contrary to work in charcoal furnaces and in sugar-cane harvesting which society in general rejects, the fact of children working in urban areas is tolerated by society ...... When a child is seen delivering a pizza people are satisfied. They believe that it is better that the child be working that standing at a traffic-light or inhaling glue" commented sociologist Suzanna Sochaczewski who worked on the study. According to Joao Carlos Alexim of the International Work Organization, the study shows clearly that work in urban areas also is prejudicial to children - "Unemployment favors child exploitation. Only with technological and social development is it possible to eradicate child work" he commented.

A typical case of child workers studied by Dieese is that of 14 year old Jorge Augusto Ramalho who started work at 11 years. Each day between 7.30 A.M. and 6.00 P.M. he sells car batteries. Between 7.30 and 10.50 P.M. he goes to school. He is in the 6th. year of the primary school in the Imirim neighborhood of the northern region of the city of Sao Paulo. There are 29 other students in his classroom - all in the 14 to 17 year bracket. According to their age all should have finished primary school by now.

On being questioned on how he manages to reserve time to do his homework, Jorge Augusto smiles and admits "I haven't time". Likewise between 10% and 32% of the children interviewed in the Dieese study admitted that they haven't time to do their homework. The reason is that work occupies the time which is needed for homework. Jorge Augusto admitted that during 1996 he was absent quite a lot from school - "I was absent 49 times in mathematics class alone". "I like my work. Nearly everybody in my family started work at 11 years" he commented. Jorge Augusto earns approximately US $160 per month.

70% of the children interviewed in the study were under 14 years. A third of the total interviewed began work when they were less than 10 years old. According to Brazilian law work is prohibited for children under 14 years. The interviews also showed that 90% of the children enjoyed working. The chief motive was that their salaries helped improve the family income.

- Child prostitution widespread in Manaus.

A series of reports last week in the "O Globo" newspaper of Rio de Janeiro resulted in a police investigation into child prostitution in the city of Manaus, State of Amazonas. The reports denounced that as many as 300 hotels in the city used young girls, usually between 14 and 17 years, to lure customers who paid between US $5 and US $10 per hour.

A judge in the city responsible for children's questions, Rafael de Araujo Romano, denounced the omission of the state government and the police in dealing with this problem "which is widespread and is known to everybody". The State Governor, Amazonino Mendes, has promised to close all establishments accused of promoting child prostitution and plans to establish a Secretariat of Citizenship and Justice to ensure that the rights of children are guaranteed.

- Children's Way of the Cross.

Approximately 2 thousand children participated in a Way of the Cross in Sao Paulo on March 21. Many of the children who participated in the event live on the streets or on the poorer peripheries of the city. The event was organized by the Children's Pastoral Office of the Catholic Church and apart from being a religious ceremony was designed to call attention to the many injustices suffered by children in Brazilian society, especially by the impoverished street dwellers.

The children handed in a letter to police headquarters during the ceremony in which they suggested the establishment of a community police force and the carrying out of the Children's Statute. "We ask that the civil and military police know and carry out the Statute because they carry us off forcefully to the police stations where we are mistreated and sometimes tortured so that we will admit to crimes which we have have not always committed" commented the children in their letter to the police authorities.

Commenting on the children's Way of Cross, the weekly newsletter of the Brazilian Catholic Bishops' Conference (CNBB) recalled that each week on average 12 children and adolescents are assassinated in the State of Rio de Janeiro alone. During 1996, 659 children in the state died after having been wounded by stray bullets as well as a result of conflicts between gangs or police groups, beatings or in stabbings. Figures for 1995 in the state stood at 596 and for 1994 at 513.

- Study of adolescent pregnancies.

A majority of Brazilian adolescent girls who have aborted or who have given birth became pregnant with their first partner or during their first sexual relations according to a study carried out by the Assis Chateaubriand Maternity School Hospital of the Federal University of Ceara. A total of 600 adolescents attended by the hospital were interviewed during the study.

Less than 20% had used any contraceptive method. Of those who had abortions, 79% claimed that they used a medication usually prescribed for the treatment of ulcers known as Citotec, to provoke the abortion. This medication can be bought from clandestine sources for approximately US $45. The data shows that adolescent pregnancy is rarely planned or desired. 25% of the girls who had pre-natal examinations in the hospital admitted that they had seriously considered having an abortion - in such cases approximately 50% were encouraged by their friends or mothers to have the abortion.

Of those who terminated their pregnancy, 40% had sisters who became pregnant or aborted as adolescents. Of the girls who had abortions, 49% had sisters who became pregnant before they completed 18 years. An estimated 24% of all births in public hospitals in Brazil are of adolescents under 19 years. 50% of the girls who had aborted or gave birth interrupted their studies. 27% claimed that they left school because they needed to work. Of those who were pregnant, 40% claimed they left school either because they got married or because of the pregnancy. 30% of the girls who aborted were living with their partners; 52% of those who continued with their pregnancy were living with partners.

LAND ISSUES.

- Widespread approval of land occupation tactic of MST.

A survey carried out by the IBOPE opinion poll organization between March 06 and 10 shows that 52% of those interviewed are generally in favor of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST). The survey was made at the request of the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) and showed that 77% of those interviewed considered the MST legitimate. 85% considered that land occupation was a legitimate tactic to demand rights if violence was not involved. 94% replied that the MST should continue in its struggle for a land reform and 88% were in favor of the confiscation of unused land by the government and its' distribution amongst the landless. 2 thousand people in various parts of the country were interviewed.

The MST which is promoting a three pronged march towards the federal capital demanding a widespread agrarian reform received support from many sources during recent days. An example is the Brazilian Catholic Bishops' Conference (CNBB) which in its report of the meeting of the coordination group of the organization between March 18 and 20 in Brasilia commented on the march. "The MST should not be isolated or the importance of their struggle for an agrarian reform should not be ignored ...... The press when it reports on stages of the march to Brasilia rarely gives importance to its' symbolic value. It rather deals with difficulties or problems very common in any human group. There is a systematic campaign in place to demoralize them (the MST)..... The political fact of the landless mobilizing themselves cannot be interpreted merely as a confrontation with the government. It is above all else an important social movement. It calls attention to things forgotten in our political life: grassroots participation or an opposition with feet literally on the ground. Social conflicts and questions continue to be serious. In order to resolve the question of agrarian reform, more is needed, much more, in the quality of the response than police repression.... In a country with chronic and increasing unemployment isn't it extraordinary that there are people willing to work on the land in order to produce more food". The CNBB document then goes on to question if the unemployed should not organize themselves in a similar way to the landless.

The Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) - a Catholic Church organization working with questions of land violence also supports the MST in its' March 21 newsletter. It speaks of the constant failed efforts of the government to isolate the MST. It believes that the government has now perceived that this tactic has failed and has modified its' approach. The CPT claims that the press has now taken up the attacks where the government had left off especially during the last two weeks. "Such attitudes by the government and the press are symptomatic because they denote a huge preoccupation with the repercussion being received by the March for Agrarian Reform, carried out by the MST and principally with the huge show of support which they (the MST marchers) are expected to receive when they arrive in Brasilia on April 17".

INDIGENOUS ISSUES

- Newsletter from the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI).

Newsletter n. 253

ENTITIES BREAK AWAY FROM PRODEAGRO

At an Assembly held on March 20, the Environment and Development Forum of the State of Mato Grosso (Formad) formally decided to break away from negotiations for reviewing the Agricultural/ Environmental Development Program of the State of Mato Grosso (Prodeagro). In this project, funded by the World Bank (Interamerican Development Bank) under an agreement with the government of that state, actions to protect the Sarare indigenous area and to remove invaders from it were constantly used as an argument conditioning the allocation of funds to the Program. However, the Formad decided to break off relations with that program due to the threat of genocide of the Kithaurlu people, a subgroup of the Nambikwara, as a result of ineffective attempts to protect the indigenous area. The Forum is presently made up of 30 environmental entities and organizations which support indigenous peoples and human rights, among which Cimi and the Land Pastoral Commission (CPT), which are taking part in the assessment and reorientation of the Prodeagro program with a view to ensuring the active participation of society's institutions.

Formad's decision reinforces Cimi's constant complaints about the omission of the federal and state administrations, which have failed to protect and ensure the integrity of indigenous territories in Brazil. At the last board meeting of the entity, Cimi also accused the Ministry of Justice, Ibama and Funai of neglecting the indigenous population. In a public note, the Mato Grosso Forum complained that the Program postponed the definition of a final solution to the dramatic social and environmental situation of the Sarare indigenous area. In Formad's opinion, nothing has changed since the Prodeagro was signed five years ago. On November 15 of last year, a criminal ambush by miners and woodcutters threatened the lives of the 76 Kithaurlu who live in the 67,000-hectare area.

All attempts to curb the invasion of the area by miners, including an operation which removed over 8,000 miners from it in January of this year, have failed. So far, the authorities have failed to effectively control the situation and have not implemented programs to ensure indigenous rights provided for in the Brazilian Constitution. No actions were taken to recover the environment in the indigenous area and its constant and still persistent invasion by miners are dealt with through unsuccessful repressive inspection operations.

On November 20, the Acting Federal Judge of Mato Grosso, Alexandre Laranjeiras, described the situation, with some irritation, as one of flagrant omission on the part of the federal administration. He stressed that "it is up to the Federal Administration, through Funai and with the help from the armed forces if necessary, to act as a police force in indigenous areas, a role it has failed to perform with no grounded explanation."

For over a month, the entities making up the Formad have been trying to fix an audience with the governor of Mato Grosso, Dante de Oliveira, to talk about the aggravation of the Sarare indigenous area situation. However, the governor - despite all acts of aggression against civil servants and different entities in the performance of their functions - receives representatives of miners or their political interlocutors without reservation, evincing his lack of political will to solve the problem of indigenous populations. Moreover, it is publicly known that the government of the state of Mato Grosso may reserve part of the Sarare indigenous area for mining activities through a project that lacks any legal or environmental basis.

The entities making up the Formad have agreed that they will only resume the dialogue with the Prodeagro program if the government of the state and the World Bank - supported by the federal administration - remove the invaders of the Sarare indigenous area for good, forbid the settling of miners in its surroundings and implement a plan to recover the area degraded by mining activities immediately. The Formad asked the World Bank to suspend the funding allocated to the program and to set up an Inspection Committee to investigate whether an express contract clause providing for the requirement to protect and control the Sarare indigenous area is being disregarded.

FUNAI REFUSES TO PROVIDE LODGING TO INDIANS

The fact took place on Saturday, March 22, and drew the attention of the press. By order of the Sectoral Policies Department of Funai, 33 Indians, mostly Xavante, had their permission to remain lodged at two boarding houses with expenses paid by the agency suspended. This type of lodging is offered to indigenous peoples arriving in Brasilia to solve problems related to indigenous areas or for health care. Chief Aniceto Xavante, the leader of the group, believes it was an act of retaliation of Funai caused by a document signed by 84 indigenous chiefs and leaders requesting the dismissal of the president of the agency, Julio Gaiger. According to Aniceto Xavante, Gaiger is incompetent and "wants to bury the Indians alive and release Funai from the obligation to take care of the health, protection, and education of my people." The owners of the two boarding houses confirmed Funai's orders and admitted that they had expelled other Indians before.

The Council for the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of Brazil (Capoib) issued a note blaming Funai for the impasse, caused by the paternalistic system adopted by the agency itself. According to Capoib, this fact evinces the urgent need to define an indigenous policy with the participation of indigenous peoples, so that they may not continue "to be used as mere folklore or objects of political and economic exploitation by those who take advantage of the sad situation of some human beings."

Brasilia, 26 March 1997

SOCIAL ISSUES

- Homeless plan a series of occupations.

According to a report in the 'Folha de Sao Paulo' on March 26, various organizations working on the question of housing are planning a protest day for June 03. The plan foresees the occupation by housing groups of several public areas in many states. The Movement of Rural Landless Workers (MST) which has used similar tactics in its campaign for an agrarian reform has given its' support to the campaign.

"The way to make society understand the need for an urban reform is to call attention to it through occupations and put pressure on public authorities.... Our objectives are similar (to the MST). The only difference is that they want land to use to plant crops and we land for houses" commented Raimundo Bonfim, one of the coordinators of the campaign. He also commented that another point in common is that the largest part of the population in shantytowns (favelas) and tenements came from rural areas - 45% of the urban population lives in such areas. "This link between agrarian reform and urban reform is important. The first secures people in rural areas and reduces migration. With less migration urban planning could be improved" commented Raimundo Bonfim.

- Profile of prisoners.

The Association of Criminal Lawyers of the State of Sao Paulo (Acrimesp) recently carried out a survey of prisoners imprisoned in 102 police stations in the Greater Sao Paulo area while they await trial or a vacancy in a jail. According to the survey the profile of a typical prisoner is that they are young (on average between 21 and 35 years), poor, living in a shantytown (favela) or tenement. On average they have four brothers or sisters, they are migrants from the north-east or are children of migrants. Their parents have been separated, they did not complete their primary education and cannot afford to pay a lawyer. The typical prisoner was arrested for stealing, drugs or assault.

"The tendency is that the situation will get worse because the State is not preoccupied in investing in the police and judicial systems. It does not have as an objective the reintroduction of the individual into society" commented Ademar Gomes, president of Acrimesp.

According to a report published in the 'Folha de Sao Paulo' on March 28 a group of parliamentarians interested in human rights questions visited the prison hospital of the State of Sao Paulo and found deplorable conditions there. Of the 51 prisoners in the hospital, many suffer from mental problems and have infected wounds and exposed fractures. There are no medications or medical assistance in the hospital and all the patients are held in very small cells - "a cold place, humid, where the sun never shines". Rats and insects abound and cleaning materials are not available. In the absence of medical assistance many of the prisoners are cared for by fellow prisoners.

- Rate of government spending on social areas decreases.

During 1996 the amount spent on social areas by the government increased significantly less than during the previous year. In 1995 - the first year of the government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, spending in this area had increased by 21.1% when compared with 1994. In 1996 spending increased by 7.78% as compared to 1995. The figures were published by the Institute of Applied Economic Surveys (IPEA) - an organization linked to the federal Ministry of Planning. Under the heading of spending on social areas were included such items as social security, unemployment benefits, medical assistance, professional training, basic sanitation and public education.

According to Fernando Rezende, president of the IPEA, one of the factors which contributed to the decreased spending in the social area in 1966 was the large outlay on the salaries of public functionaries. The programs which benefited more during this year were senior citizens, invalids and unemployment. In 1995, approximately US $50 billion was spent on such programs; during 1996 the amount spent on such programs was almost US $60 billion. Programs directed towards children and youth on the other hand experienced less growth increasing from approximately US $1.8 billion in 1995 to US $2 billion during 1996.

HEALTH ISSUES

- Tuberculosis on the rise.

Even though cases of tuberculosis are on the increase in Brazil, the combat of this illness has not a high priority for the Ministry of Health according to a report in the 'Folha de Sao Paulo' on March 22. It is estimated that during 1996, 96 thousand people were infected by the disease. 91.3 thousand new cases were registered during 1995 and 85.9 thousand in 1992.

93% of those affected are in the 15 to 40 age group. 90% of the cases are of lung tuberculosis. According to the Ministry of Health, the greatest difficulty encountered in treating the disease has been the large number of people who give up the treatment before completion. When the symptoms of the disease begin to decrease many discontinue the use of medication and the disease then recurs offering significant resistance to many antibiotics. In such cases more expensive medication is then required and thus the costs of treatment are significantly increased. In the large cities an average of 25% of the patients abandon treatment before they have been cured. At the moment, Brazil is in sixth place on a world scale with the number of tuberculosis patients. Higher on the same scale are India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan.

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