Number 280, July 17, 1997.

SOCIAL ISSUES

- 59% of the Brazilian population is socially excluded.

According to a survey carried out by Datafolha and published in the 'Folha de Sao Paulo' on July 13, 59% of the population of Brazil are socially excluded. Of this group for example, 86% only reached eight grade in primary school and 97% have a monthly income of less than US $1000. Of all the social segments in the country this is the one which suffers most from unemployment - 19% survives economically by doing odd jobs and 10% works without official registration. On the other hand what the Folha calls the 'elite' makes up 8% of the Brazilian population.

There is a larger concentration of white people (85%) in the so called elite segment of the population. In this group 14% are public functionaries, 11% are self-employed, 9% are company owners and 7% are professionals such as doctors and lawyers. 74% of this group have graduated from university and the average age is 35 years. Nor is the elite spread evenly throughout the country. In the Federal District of Brasilia 30% of the population are included in this group - all earn over US2 thousand per month and most have at least two cars per family and servants. On the other hand the elite is less than 4% of the population in the State of Pernambuco where the excluded amount to 73%. The latter group amounts to 36% in the Federal District.

In all of the states the Datafolha survey discovered that at least half of the population can be included in the segment defined as excluded. In the north-east 71% of the population is included in this segment; in the north and center-west the percentage of the population in this group amounts to 58%; in the south to 55% and in the south-east to 53%. The survey showed that a sub group can be found in this segment of the population and accounts for 14% of the population in the entire country. In this sub group most have a better formal education - 79% have completed second level education and 21% have graduated from university but all have a family income of less than a thousand dollars per month. 71% of this sub group are white. 9% do odd jobs; 10% are self employed and 14% are public functionaries. The average age of this sub group is 31 years.

- Infant malnutrition declines by 69% between 1974 and 1996.

The number of malnourished under five year old children in Brazil has decreased by 69% between 1974 and 1996 according to a lecture given by Professor Augusto Taddei of the Federal University of Sao Paulo (Unifesp) at the 49th. Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Society for Scientific Progress (SBPC) on July 14.

However if the number of malnourished children has decreased regional differences have increased. Professor Taddei commented that ''last year the number of malnourished children in the north-east was four times greater than in the south-east. 23 years ago this difference was between two and three times''. He went on to comment that the nutritional problem in Brazil is not a lack of food but its' unequal distribution between regions and between income groups.

CHURCHES

- 9th. Interecclesial Meeting begins.

On July 15 the ninth meeting of the Basic Ecclesial Communities (frequently called CEBs in Brazil) began in the city of Sao Luis, State of Maranhao. The theme of the meeting is ''CEBs: Life and Hope of the Masses''. A total of 4 thousand people will be participating at different levels in the meeting. 2500 official representatives of CEBs from all regions of Brazil are present as well as 500 other participants from Brazil and other countries - including bishops, advisers, representatives of indigenous and evangelical groups as well as individuals who have been specially invited. A further thousand people are working in 40 service teams dealing with the practical details of the meeting ranging from meals to accommodation. 1900 families in the city offered accommodation to participants in the meeting.

The meeting started with a special mass celebrated by the local Archbishop, Dom Paulo Eduardo Ponte on July 15. On July 16, 6 work groups of approximately 420 people each began their reflections on the following themes: Grass-Roots Catholicism, Afro-Brazilian Religion, Pentecostalism, the Excluded and Grass-Roots Movements, the Culture of the Masses and Indigenous Questions. The work groups studied their specific themes during July 16 and the morning of July 17. During the afternoon of July 17 (Thursday) a plenary session was held when the 3 thousand participants received a report of the work of each group.

On July 18 (Friday) work in the smaller groups is again planned when more attention will be given to the work methodology appropriate for the area being discussed by each group. On Friday afternoon the representatives will meet according to their region of origin and here they will discuss action proposals. On the final day of the meeting a new feature is being introduced into the interecclesial meetings. The approximately 80 representatives from the evangelical churches will lead a liturgical celebration for all the participants. The rest of the day will be spent on finishing the discussion of questions which were raised on the previous day as well as on the preparation of the final statement (traditionally known as a 'letter') of the interecclesial meeting. The participants will then join with thousands of people from different CEBs in the State of Maranhao who plan to gather in one of the principal public squares of the city of Sao Luis in an event known as the Pilgrimage of the Communities (Romaria das Comunidades). At 5.00 P.M. there will be an official sending ceremony of the delegates back to their own communities.

More information on the interecclesial meeting can be found at the following internet site:

http://www.ongba.org.br/memoria/9cebs/home.html

LAND ISSUES

- Landless protest campaign to dismiss head of INCRA in the State of Paraiba.

The federal government's land agency (INCRA) has little credibility in most states. In general it is accused by the landless of doing little to promote an agrarian reform; at times rather it is accused as being on the side of the large ranchers. INCRA's situation in the State of Paraiba is however different. During recent days rural workers associated with the Land Pastoral Commission (CPT) released a statement denouncing a campaign by the Legislative Assembly of Paraiba to discredit the state's director of INCRA, Dr. Julio Cesar Ramalhos Ramos.

The rural workers express their solidarity with Dr. Ramos and go on to comment that ''an agrarian reform has never fully been carried out because those who govern us have lacked the political will-power to use this method to decrease social inequalities. Putting this in context in our state, in the last two years as a result of the demands and resistance of rural landless workers we managed to advance in the number of areas exappropriated and in the number of families settled. This should not be a motive for surprise because after all INCRA as a government agency has as its' function the implementation of agrarian reform in this country. In an attempt to be an agency which really carries out an agrarian policy, the regional office of INCRA in Paraiba as well as the offices in the States of Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul and Maranhao have been models for the rest of the country according to the Ministry of Land Policy and Agrarian Reform.

However in Paraiba, in carrying out its' duty, it (INCRA) is upsetting our deputies who in an effort to intimidate the work of INCRA have aligned themselves with the large landed class and are making an effort to damage the good name and the work of Dr. Julio Cesar with untruthful accusations. They have gone so far as to suggest to the Federal Government that he should be sacked.

It annoys us to know that deputies use their parliamentary mandate which was given them by the people to defend the interests of the ranchers and at times their own private interests. Both parliamentary decorum and ethical conduct would demand of them that the interests and the well-being of the entire population should be put in first place. Everything indicate that in Paraiba a 'rural pressure group' is in the process of formation amongst deputies as has happened in the National Congress.

The deputies allege that INCRA in Paraiba has been acting in a tendentious manner encouraging the occupation of productive lands and of using the agency in a manner to benefit people who are radically opposed to the state and federal governments.

We would like to make it clear that the exappropriated areas both on the coastal region and in the interior belonged to titleless farmers (posseiros) who lived and worked on these properties for generations; other exappropriated areas were of unused land. The market price has been consistently paid for exappropriated properties. According to our calculations those who benefited by the work of INCRA in Paraiba were 2182 landless families who were settled on 21428 hectares during 1996 and this is very little when compared to the thousands of landless families in Paraiba. Only anti-social and diabolical forces could support a change of direction. There is much yet to be improved but the little which is being done means a lot for those who won it at the cost of a struggle and blood-shed caused by the timid agrarian policy of the federal government....

For this reason we demand that INCRA be allowed to function competently and that Dr. Julio Cesar remain as director of INCRA in Paraiba. If this does not happen, we workers from the areas in conflict, from the campments and from the settlements in Paraiba will know to whom we should direct ourselves when there is violent expulsions, police repression or slowness in the processes of land exappropriation. In such cases our action will be concentrated and focused on the State Government and the Legislative Assembly of Paraiba''.

ACTION APPEAL: The rural workers request that you send a message to the Governor of the State of Paraiba, Jose Targino Maranhao (fax +55 83 221 2626) and / or to the President of the Legislative Assembly, Deputado Inaldo Leitao (fax + 55 83 241 3182) demanding that Dr. Julio Cesar Ramalhos Ramos be maintained as director of INCRA in the State of Paraiba and that he be allowed to work in the interests of the landless families and in the furthering of agrarian reform.

- Reduction in cattle numbers leave large areas unused.

According to a report in the 'Folha de Sao Paulo' on July 14 a significant decrease in cattle numbers in Brazil is leaving large areas of land unused. The report refers to a survey carried out by a specialized firm in this area (FNP Consultoria e Comercio) which shows that cattle numbers decreased by 4.8 million in two years. Based on these figures calculations indicate that 5.3 million hectares less are being used since an average of 0.9 cattle are reared per hectare in Brazil. Between January and May of this year the sale of cattle vaccines decreased by 19% in comparison to the same period last year - this is seen as another clear indication of the decrease in cattle numbers.

When this statistic is put side by side with other figures it is indeed significant. For example this area is 63% larger that the sum of the areas exappropriated in two and a half years by the present government (approximately 3.384 million hectares). It is 14.5% of the total area planted for grain in the 1996/97 period. According to FNP figures, Brazil had 149.2 million cattle in 1995; 146.1 million in 1996 and the number is expected to fall to 144.4 million by the end of this year. Between 1994 and 1996 the market value of pasture lands fell by 57% according to the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV). Specialists in the area claim that the number of ranches which have been put on the market have increased significantly during this period and the price of renting pasture lands fell considerably. FNP calculations suggest that by the year 2005 if the present trend continues 20 million hectares of pasture land will be idle.

According to a spokesperson of the FNP, Victor Abou Nehmi, the fall in the number of cattle in the country is a result of the decrease in the profitability in this agricultural activity. ''The process worsened after the Real Economic Plan (mid 1994). The steep increase in costs eliminated profits in this sector forcing cattle ranchers to sell off part of their herds''. Other experts in the area point to the fact that before the economic plan cattle were left longer in the pasture and were used as a financial reserve by large ranchers. Then cattle were on average 42 months old when slaughtered; now the average age is 34 months.

Just over a month ago one of the leaders of the Movement of Rural Landless Workers (MST), Gilmar Mauro, defended the occupation of pasture areas by the landless because of what he considered the under-use of such areas. Until then the MST had only occupied unused areas. The first such area was occupied by 300 landless families on July 13. The landless occupied the Bonanza ranch in the municipality of Itarare, Sao Paulo. Gilmar Mauro commented after the occupation that the occupation of under-used pasture lands would tend to increase in the near future as a tactic to force INCRA to exappropriate areas considered as unused by the MST.

HEALTH ISSUES

- Cut-backs in health funding.

13 states and 18 municipalities, will not receive supplementary funds for AIDS connected programs as well as for projects dealing with the control of sexually transmitted diseases due to the fact that they spent less than 50% of federal grants last year released for such areas. The states include three in the north - Amapa, Rondonia and Roraima; four in the north-east - Ceara, Alagoas, Sergipe and Rio Grande do Norte; two in the center-west - the Federal District of Brasilia and Mato Grosso; two in the south - Parana and Santa Catarina as well as Espirito Santo in the south-east. Municipalities and states had until July 15 to show that they used at least half of the federal funds granted last year for this program in order that they might receive another grant this year. The States of Alagoas, Espirito Santo and Mato Grosso hadn't spent any of last year's grant which amounted to approximately US $1.2 million.

Eight state capitals as well did not spend 50% of last year's funds. These included Manaus (spent 18% of the grant); Maceio (40%); Joao Pessoa (23%); Natal (23%); Cuiaba (35%); Vitoria (28%) and Porto Alegre (37%). The city authorities in Sao Paulo were unable to provide figures to show how much of the approximately US $2 million federal grant was used last year. Two cities which top the AIDS list in the country - Santos (State of Sao Paulo0 and Itajai (State of Santa Catarina) had also spent less than 50% of last year's federal grant.

Despite widespread complaints about poor public health service in the State of Sao Paulo, just over US $200 million less was spent by the state on health than had been budgeted for during 1996. Last year public health represented 5.92% (approximately US $1.8 billion) of the total budget of the state. This had been the smallest percentage of the budget reserved for health since 1988. The health situation of the state has worsened considerably since then. For example, in 1978 7 thousand cases of tuberculosis were registered; this had increased to 19 thousand in 1995. In 1994 700 cases of dengue were registered; this number increased to 6883 last year. The number of new cases of leprosy registered has been in the region of 3 thousand each year during this period.

CHILDREN'S ISSUES

- Survey of youth offenders questions some preconceived ideas.

Two preconceived ideas about youth offenders in Brazil were shown to be false by a recently published report dealing with this group. The report coordinated by Mario Volpi and published as a book entitled ''Adolescents and Crime'' (''O Adolescente e o Ato Infracional'' - the publishers are Cortez e Inesc) studied the crimes committed by the 4245 offenders being held in young offenders institutes in Brazil between October 1995 and April 1996. 95% were young males.

The first preconceived idea demolished by the study is the nature of youth crimes. The vast majority of such crimes were not murders as many believe. 1415 youth were imprisoned for stealing; 224 for armed robbery; 1008 for fraud; 168 for drug trafficking; 564 for murder; 121 for rape and 728 for a variety of crimes. On the other hand the importance of a good formal education as a means to combat youth crimes emerged from the study. 61% of imprisoned youth offenders were not attending school when they were arrested. 52% had been using drugs at the time of their arrest.

One of the people who worked on preparing the report, Consuelo Cordeiro, claims that the schools do not know how to deal with such students in general. ''Teachers do not accept these children. A culture of poverty exists according to which the students do not learn because they are poor. They do not understand the culture of these youth which is neither worse nor better, only different. For this reason the youth cannot follow the school system. This is a system which excludes'' commented Consuelo. She feels that along with this the need to work to increase the family income throws youth onto the streets and subsequently pushes them into crime. Another factor which helps them into crime is violence in their homes. All the offenders had spent some time in school - 15% were illiterate.

SOCIAL ISSUES

- Police unrest continues in 10 states.

This last week saw a continued intensity in police unrest regarding pay and equipment in 10 Brazilian states. Such states include Para, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Ceara, Santa Catarina, Paraiba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sao Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul.

The manner in which the unrest was manifested by the police and dealt with by the state authorities varied from state to state. In Sao Paulo for example the government made a proposal for a salary increase to both the military and civil police. While the military police are satisfied with what is on offer their tactic seems to be to continue negotiating. The civil police however decided to start a strike on Monday next (July 21) if their demands are not met. In this case the government offered a maximum pay increase of 34%; the civil police demand an increase of 88.68%.

In other states negotiations in recent days between the police and government authorities have not been so pacific as in Sao Paulo. In Alagoas the army was called in to protect government headquarters in the state capital Maceio against possible attacks from the striking police. Here the police have not received their salaries for the last six months and they went on strike on July 10. In the State of Paraiba police on strike have camped in the main public square of the state capital - Joao Pessoa, in front of government headquarters. During the week the striking police in Joao Pessoa received support from the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) and the Land Pastoral Commission (CPT) as well as from other organizations in the state who supplied food. In the State of Pernambuco an assembly had been set for July 17 in which a decision would be taken by the military police if they would go on strike or not. But the arrest of 15 of the 28 leaders on July 16 caused the police to immediately go on strike. Approximately 2 thousand striking police are camped in front of government headquarters in the state capital, Recife. In Mato Grosso do Sul after two days of negotiation with the state government the police decided to start a strike on July 17.

On a national level there are two distortions in police salaries - the difference in salaries offered by the different states to their police and the difference between ordinary police and their commanders. In the State of Paraiba for example military police at the beginning of their career earn approximately US $160 per month - this is the lowest registered police salary in the country. On the other hand the salary for the same category in the Federal District of Brasilia is US $1000. The rate of pay in Brasilia is well ahead of all other states. Police organizations throughout the country suggest that the basic starting salary in all states should be US $900 per month.

The pay difference between ordinary police and their commanding officers is substantial. In the State of Piaui officers earn 20 times more. In Goias commanding officers earn 13 times more; in Rio Grande do Sul 12.6 times; in Amapa 11.7 times; in Rio de Janeiro 10.9 times. The state with the lowest pay difference is Maranhao - commanding officers there earn 4.34 more than the rank and file police. In the armed forces low pay for ordinary soldiers and comparatively higher salaries for commanding officers are also a feature. Soldiers at the beginning of their careers earn approximately US $270 per month; their commanding officers earn at least 10 times this amount. The police strikes in numerous states provoke speculations if the armed forces will also be demanding salary increases in the near future.

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