Number 288, October 02, 1997.

ECOLOGY

- Widespread burnings in Amazonian area.

Newspaper reports in recent days show that forest burnings have increased in recent months in Brazil especially in the Amazonian region. According to the 'Folha de Sao Paulo' of October 01, 38.6 thousand such burnings were registered in all of Brazil during the months of July, August and September of this year. This compares with a total of 32.9 thousand such burnings during the same period last year - an increase of 17%.

In Mato Grosso alone during the month of September, 6 thousand burnings were registered by satellites. In the State of Para, 6600 burnings were registered between July and September of 1996 as compared to 8800 during the same period this year - an increase of 33%.

The burnings have left much smoke in the air in these regions and has been responsible for problems in many of the airports. The airport of Maraba, State of Para, needed to use instruments to help planes land during 120 hours in September - the visibility was seriously impaired. The airport in Imperatriz, State of Maranhao, experienced such difficulties during 32 hours in September while the airport in Carajas, State of Para, was forced to close on two occasions. On September 29 smoke was responsible for a 40% increase in the number of people who sought medical aid in hospitals because of problems with breathing in the city of Manaus, Amazonas. Pilots claim that visibility approaching the city is usually over 5 thousand meters; during recent days at best it has been between 2 thousand and 5 thousand meters.

During the last week we received the following study on this question prepared by the Environmental Defense Fund which we would like to share with you.

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND

1875 Connecticut Ave., NW, 10th Fl.

Washington, D.C. 20009

Steve Schwartzman: steves@edf.org

Telephone: (202) 387-3500

Facsimile: (202) 234-6049

Fires in the Amazon - An Analysis of NOAA-12 satellite data 1996 - 1997

Stephan Schwartzman

Environmental Defense Fund

September 23, 1997

Analysis of NOAA satellite data indicates that burning in the Brazilian Amazon increased 28% between 1996 and 1997. A sample of 41 consecutive days for which data are available starting from 08/01/96 (08/01/96 - 09/16/96) and 41 consecutive days for which data are available starting 08/01/97 (08/01/97 - 09/21/97) shows the increased burning. The sample was selected taking the first 41 days starting August 1st 1997 for which NOAA 12 data could be obtained from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) (http://condor.dsa.inpe.br.mapas_ que) and the first 41 days starting August 1st 1996, in order to create comparable data sets from the burning season in the two years. Occurrence and distribution of fires is observed from thermal anomalies in data from NOAA satellite Advanced Very-High Resolution Radiometers (AVHRR). Images are processed and fires counted by INPE from June to November.

A total of 19,115 fires are reported from the NOAA-12 satellite images in the sample in 1996, while 24,549 fires appear in the 1997 data over the period, an increase of 28%. The average number of fires per day increased from 466 to 599. The actual increase for the year may be even greater, since 1997 is drier than 1996 and burning continues. INPE has not yet released analysis of deforestation, based on Landsat Thematic Mapper images, for 1995 or 1996. Increased burning, however, strongly suggests that deforestation rates continue to rise. The most recent deforestation analysis, released last year, showed that forest clearing had risen about 34% between 1991 and 1994, reaching 14,896 square kilometers a year.1/

Burning was concentrated principally in the Amazon states of Mato Grosso, and Para, followed by Tocantins, Rondonia and Maranhao. Half of the fires registered in 1997 were in Mato Grosso alone. The state of Mato Grosso has since 1992 been the beneficiary of a $205 million World Bank loan intended to halt deforestation -- the Mato Grosso Natural Resource Management Program.

These data underestimate the actual number of fires probably by an order of magnitude, since the NOAA-12 satellite passes over the Amazon region at night, recording only the largest and longest- burning conflagrations. Fires to burn cleared forest and pasture are started in the daytime. Previous analyses of burning relied on the NOAA-14 satellite, which orbits the region during the day, and thus records much higher totals.2/ Use of the NOAA-14 satellite data to calculate the number of fires during the burning season was discontinued by the Brazilian government, under the allegation that sun glint, the reflection of the sun from bodies of water or the earth during the Amazon dry season, could erroneously register as burning on the satellite's sensors, inflating the number of fires.

While analysis of the NOAA-12 data under-counts the actual number of fires, comparison of the data from two years does yield a reliable estimate of change in burning activity.

The number of fires is not a direct measure of new deforestation, because old cattle pasture and secondary forest is typically burned every year, in addition to forest newly felled for cattle ranching. Burning in areas not previously cleared is a good indication of new deforestation, and increased burning in past years has in fact presaged increased deforestation.

Of the 12% to 13% of the forested area of the Amazon cleared and burned to date, an area about the size of California, only about 12% is farmed. The rest is cattle pasture, and most new forest clearing is for the creation of cattle pasture. New areas are typically first made accessible to ranching and agriculture by building of logging roads, particularly for mahogany extraction.

Were the 28% increase in burning to represent an equal increase in the annual deforestation rate, and were such an increase to have occurred twice in the three years since 1994, when the last deforestation data were released, the current rate would be higher than 21,130 square kilometers per year recorded by INPE between 1978 - 1988.

The variations in annual deforestation rates since the end of the 1980s are in part explained by economic cycles. As Brazil's economic stabilization plan takes hold and growth picks up, most observers expect increased deforestation.

Equally important is that since 1989, Brazil's environmental agency (IBAMA) has had no statutory authority to enforce environmental legislation. A recent Brazilian national security agency (SAE) report on forestry policy concluded that 80% of the timber produced in the Amazon is extracted illegally.3/ The environmental agency collects about 6.5% of the fines it levies. The 1965 Forestry Code specified penalties to be applied by the courts, but failed to authorize executive agencies to enforce the law. This was temporarily rectified by executive order during the military dictatorship (Decreto-Lei 289/67), but under the 1988 Constitution this order should have been made law by the Congress within 180 days, but was not. Consequently, IBAMA is powerless to levy fines, apprehend timber stolen from public lands or otherwise carry out its mandate. There is thus practically no environmental law enforcement in the Amazon. The government introduced draft legislation that would enable IBAMA to function in 1991; only in 1997 did the legislation pass the Senate and it is now blocked in the House of Representatives.

Researchers at the Institute of People and the Environment in the Amazon (IMAZON) have shown that current fire use practices act synergistically with selective logging in the region to promote fire, even in normally fire-resistant living forests.4/ Individual fires of this type may encompass hundreds or even thousands of square kilometers of forest. Amazonian forest fires (as opposed to burning of felled forest) take place under the tree canopy and may not be detected by current satellite methods. IMAZON estimates that for every hectare of forest that is cut down and burns, at least one more hectare burns beneath the canopy. Mortality of trees subjected to even light fires can be 40%-50%. Once burned, a forest is much more likely to burn again in subsequent years. These recurrent forest fires have been shown to reduce living biomass in the forest by as much as 80%. This implies carbon emissions that are not accounted for in current estimates, which are based solely on deforestation.

Increased burning may provoke unexpected larger consequences. The Woods Hole Research Institute and Institute of Environmental Research in the Amazon (IPAM) estimate that as much as half of the forest, in the eastern and southern Amazon where deforestation and burning have been heaviest, is near the limit of its capacity to remain evergreen during the Amazonian dry season. With the drier climate predicted by climate models could become flammable. Under these circumstances, much larger conflagrations consuming larger areas of the forest and increasing carbon emissions drastically become a serious risk.

End Notes:

1. InforMMA. Ministerio de Meio Ambiente, dos Recursos Hidricos e da Amazonia Legal, 31 de julho 1996.

2. A.W. Setzer and M.C. Pereira. Ambio 20, 19 1991; Amazon is Burning Again?, Diana Schemo New York Times, October 12, 1995.

3. Secretaria de Assuntos Estrategicos. Grupo de Trabalho sobre Politica Florestal: A Exploracao Madeireira na Amazonia. Relatorio. Brasalia, 08 de abril de 1997.

4. Mark Cochrane and M. Schulze, Fire as a recurrent event in tropical forests of the eastern Amazon. In press, Biotropic.

(NEWS FROM BRAZIL note: The letters on the tables below denote the following states:

AC = Acre; AM = Amazonas; MA = Maranhao; MT = Mato Grosso; PA = Para; RO = Rondonia; TO = Tocantins)

Fires Detected by NOAA 12 in August & September 1996

Source: National Institute of Space Research;

hhtp://condor.dsa.inpe.br.mapas_que

AC AM MA MT PA RO TO Daily Totals

8/1 7 73 96 40 216

8/2 5 3 59 24 91

8/3 49 49

8/4 2 1 91 47 69 7 217

8/5 0

8/6 8 68 71 34 181

8/7 10 5 66 13 94

8/8 289 23 23 5 340

8/9 11 472 127 13 12 635

8/10 4 3 269 223 18 517

8/11 14 53 43 31 141

8/12 3 2 5

8/13 9 319 42 104 3 477

8/14 1 4 295 54 33 14 401

8/15 13 118 13 16 160

8/16 4 34 36 11 85

8/19 1 1 276 185 41 504

8/20 21 58 165 59 303

8/21 31 6 29 8 74

8/22 4 10 257 83 34 12 400

8/23 5 7 593 296 16 40 957

8/25 47 112 298 36 493

8/26 5 377 7 120 509

8/27 704 87 88 25 904

8/28 3 7 785 227 33 124 1179

8/29 39 289 72 126 526

8/31 2 342 1 312 4 661

9/1 2 11 72 164 26 35 310

9/3 41 21 199 114 375

9/4 11 40 3 54

9/5 12 8 208 18 238 26 510

9/6 24 437 131 23 151 766

9/7 42 326 457 292 1117

9/8 30 55 201 88 374

9/10 1 12 269 127 2 113 524

9/11 55 370 508 2 305 240

9/12 106 222 311 301 940

9/13 32 18 76 126

9/14 2 5 459 15 75 18 574

9/15 11 413 261 26 265 976

9/16 60 314 429 307 1110

Totals 20 57 878 8895 5229 1237 2799

Grand 19115

Total

Fires Detected by NOAA 12 in August & September 1997

Source: Source: National Institute of Space Research;

hhtp://condor.dsa.inpe.br.mapas_que

AC AM MA MT PA RO TO Daily Totals

8/1 41 409 95 4 2 551

8/3 1 19 82 231 23 356

8/4 22 5 75 20 122

8/5 1 292 54 2 349

8/7 4 19 298 849 40 1210

8/8 26 54 312 45 437

8/9 17 70 12 99

8/12 16 135 57 26 234

8/13 21 21 73 14 129

8/14 272 17 66 355

8/15 1 415 48 21 9 494

8/16 0

8/17 59 141 462 54 716

8/20 19 17 696 487 35 56 1310

8/21 68 423 591 90 1172

8/22 77 68 300 46 491

8/24 8 534 87 92 4 725

8/26 78 330 273 97 778

8/27 75 9 248 84 416

8/28 4 2 815 54 333 5 1213

8/29 4 3 1437 238 44 73 1799

8/30 1 29 862 359 280 1531

8/31 67 78 287 67 499

9/1 29 42 41 112

9/2 2 797 30 80 52 961

9/3 2 15 804 169 35 132 1157

9/5 67 21 148 70 306

9/7 2 454 18 176 32 682

9/8 23 27 296 222 67 635

9/9 54 94 78 70 296

9/10 63 48 5 116

9/12 3 37 507 312 14 83 956

9/14 90 6 191 138 425

9/15 189 1 117 307

9/16 5 465 40 104 105 719

9/17 4 25 458 209 25 48 769

9/18 129 5 171 84 389

9/19 60 84 70 214

9/20 21 1 502 7 71 602

9/21 1 7 170 32 3 213

Totals 27 115 1271 12488 7272 1219 2157

Grand 24549

Total

- Tapajos industrial waterway.

We bring you a report prepared by the International Rivers Network on the project to construct a waterway (hidrovia) on the Tapajos river.

Public Hearing Held on Tapajos River Hidrovia

On September 25, 1997, a public hearing was held in Santarem, Para' state, Brazil regarding the proposed Tapajos River Hidrovia, or industrial waterway. The Tapajos would be one of four major waterways affected by plans for fluvial soy export corridors in Brazil. 300 people took part in the public hearing, including 60 Munduruku and Kaiaibi Indians, whose reserves would be affected by the project.

Under the plan, extensive dredging would take place along more than 1,000 km. of the Tapajos and the Teles Pires, a major tributary to facilitate passage of barge trains, principally for shipment of soybeans from northern Mato Grosso to the Amazon River, and from there on to European ports for use as cattle feed. In addition, rock outcroppings at dozens of rapids would be exploded to enlarge the channel, and a canal with locks would be built to permit ships to pass an area where rapids are particularly strong, and where there is a 35m. decline.

The discussion at the public hearing was heated, in large part because Para' state environmental authorities and the consultants from the University of Para' who prepared the studies opted to break the project into sections, in order to not have to submit an environmental impact statement for the entire project. The project for the lower section of the river did not even mention the Munduruku, who live along the middle Tapajos and the Teles Pires.

In addition, a road will have to be constructed through the rainforest to link the Teles Pires with the city of Alta Floresta, in northern Mato Grosso. Including this part of the project would mean that the project would cross state boundaries, involving stricter Brazilian federal laws, so this part of the project was also omitted from consideration in order for it to be handled as strictly a Para' state project.

-------------------------------------

The following is a condensed version of a report on the meeting by Franciscan Brother Edilson Rocha, who took part in the public hearing:

The public hearing was solicited by a group of governmental and non-governmental organizations from Santarem who heard after the fact that at a public hearing in Itaituba, on June 12, all local authorities approved the EIA/RIMA without expressing major concerns.

At the Santarem hearing, the audience was filled with people concern in clarifying the real impacts that a project of this type could cause not only for the environment, but above all for the riverine and indigenous populations in the area of direct and influence of the project. The technicians of FADESP - Foundation for Support and Development of Research, of the Federal University of Para', businessmen, engineers, and the constructor AHIMOR - Hidrovia Administration of the Eastern Amazon, as well as the representative of SECTAM, the state environmental agency, who coordinated the hearing, encountered a very critical audience that questioned many incorrect or weak aspects of the Environmental Impact Study.

Significant was the presence of dozens of representatives of indigenous peoples of the area, the Kaiabi and Munduruku, from the Teles Pires River area, who supported by functionaries of Funai in Itaituba, had their voices heard, saying that they were not consulted regarding a project which affects the river running through their reserves. They strongly expressed their doubts, their fears, and their position against the hidrovia. The Kaiabi are already faced with an invasion of their reserve. The hidrovia and its road connection will be the open path for the physical and cultural elimination of these people and for the occupation and devastation of the remaining virgin forests of the region.

Some of the most important questions raised at the hearing that the government will have to respond to before beginning this project which will affect not only the most beautiful river in the region, but also certainly the inhabitants of its banks:

1. Who will this project benefit? Who will examine the studies on cost/benefit analysis for the project, principally intended to lower the costs of soy shipments for the large plantation owners in Mato Grosso. No other product from Para' state would justify this type of project. The project is really not intended to eliminate the isolation of towns in the region and even less to bring development to riverine communities, but rather to increase the profits of the soy growers. The hidrovia will cut the path between plantations in Mato Grosso and the cattle and pig raisers

in the rich countries of the north.

2. The entire Teles Pires-Tapajos hidrovia extends more than 1,000 km. from Santarem to Cachoeira Rasteira, and also includes construction of a 340 km. road connection to Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso. The EIA/RIMA presented includes only the stretch between Santarem and Jacareacanga (about 800 km.). According to the technicians, the stretch between Jacareacanga and Cachoeira Rasteira will be studied separately. What is behind this breaking up of the environmental studies for the project? Shouldn't the project be presented in its totality, addressing all direct and indirect impacts along its course? Can a project of this type be licensed in parts, without a vision of the broader impacts of the entire project and its consequences for the environment and the populations of the area? What would happen if the other stretch of the project were not licensed? Would the connection with northern Mato Grosso be effected by other measures (such as construction of a road) if the engineering works already underway were to be completed?

3. Why can't the production of soy from northern Mato Grosso be shipped via the Madeira-Amazonas hidrovia, which is already in implantation with terminals in Porto Velho and Itacoatiara, or why not ship it via the Ferronorte railroad, also already in construction? These alternatives should be considered before altering the Tapajos River, putting in risk the fragile ecosystem of the region and seriously threatening the indigenous and riverine populations of the area.

4. Would it not be much more advantageous for the towns of the region if roads already built, but abandoned by the federal and state governments, were not recuperated, such as is the case of the Santarem-Cuiaba' road and the Transamazon Highway to Jacareacanga? Certainly the paving and conservation of these roads would eliminate the isolation of the cities of the region and would push forward the development of the region much more than a hidrovia that only promises advantages for the soy exporters of Mato Grosso. If the hidrovia were implanted and then privatized, as is the tendency at the present time, who would see to it that the barges and ships filled with soy would not merely pass in the night, leaving only trinkets for local people, with indigenous peoples and Indians having to pay to use the shipping locks being built by private companies?

5. The EIA does not consider impacts on local populations, particularly indigenous peoples, who live along the Tapajos and Teles Pires Rivers. It only states that all local people are in favor of the project and the development it will bring. This is the major weakness of the document. It is clear that, for the technicians who prepared the document, the populations who live along the river and depend on it for their survival are of no importance. These people must adapt to a project which is part of the process of globalization, and even the Indians and riverine people will have to become competitive, even if they have no way of competing with large plantation owners. Who will regulate the competition between the strongest and the weakest, once this project is built?

6. The EIA is an apology for the hidrovia, trying to minimize the negative impacts on the physical environment and biota of the Rio Tapajos which would result from the implantation, maintenance and use of the hidrovia. For example, to construct a canal and locks around the Sao Luis rapids, it will be necessary to dynamite a stretch of the river, construct dikes to contain the waters, and channel them to the locks, particularly during the dry season. The river bed will be excavated, rocks blown up, and sand and mud taken from the riverbed to deepen the channel in order to increase the draft for ships. Besides making the water dirtier, the water flow will quicken, resulting in more violent flooding during the rainy season. Explosions and dredging will cause fish kills, also affecting other aquatic species. The greater flow of vessels will mean increased pollution, with oil spills and an increased risk of accidents with agricultural chemicals which will be shipped upriver. The riverine populations use the river for drinking water. The beautiful beaches of the Tapajos will also surely be affected. This disaster must be avoided.

7. To link the hidrovia with the state of Mato Grosso, either by river or by road, the hidrovia will have to cross the reserves of the Munduruku and Kaiabi. It is incredible that these indigenous peoples, who are clearly within the area of impact of the project, are not even mentioned in the environmental impact study. This indicates the failure of the study to look at the social impacts of the project. According to the Federal Constitution, these peoples must be consulted regarding the project and the project can only be licensed by a special act of Congress.

During the public hearing, the responses to questions by the audience made it clear that the highway linking Alta Floresta and Jacareacanga, passing through the Munduruku reserve, is clearly part of the project. CODESUP (Cooperative for Development, Production and Consumption of the Southwest of Para' Ltd., of Alta Floresta, is already working illegally on the road construction in order to push the road link forward. The soy barons of Mato Grosso are in a hurry to "rationally" occupy the "empty" lands of the southwest of Para'.

The public hearing was an example of the exercise of citizenship and democracy, and the public's participation was good. We hope that all the questions raised at the hearing will be considered by the Para' State Secretariat for Science, Technology, and the Environment (SECTAM) before approving implantation of a project which has raised so much concern. We also hope that more people and institutions from the region will join the struggle in defense of the environment and Native people who need help to find sustainable development alternatives, so they may preserve their cultural and natural wealth, and continue living as they do today in reasonable harmony with nature.

Nature and the people of the region, above all riverine and indigenous populations, would be very thankful if another, more complete and more serious Socio-environmental Impact Study were required, and if alternatives were considered which would avoid the destruction of the Tapajos River.

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*

Glenn Switkes, Director, Latin America Program,

International Rivers Network

1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703-1576, USA

Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008

http://www.irn.org

South America:

Tel/Fax: +55 65 627 1689

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*

LAND ISSUES

- Paraiba CPT Leaders and Rural Workers Condemned Again

The judicial process against Frei Anastacio Ribeiro, coordinator of the Church's Land Pastoral Commission (CPT) in the northeastern state of Paraiba, has been re-opened.

You may remember the mobilization last year after Frei Anastacio was sentenced to 6 years in prison for formation of gangs with the intent to break the law and mistreatment of minors. The defense successfully appealed all of the charges and the process was annulled. With the creation of a new judicial branch, the "Vara Agraria", that deals specifically with land conflict issues the process has been re-opened.

In the District of Cruz do Espirito Santo, 50 miles outside of the capital city of Joao Pessoa, another process has been re-opened against Frei Anastacio, Padre Herminio Canova, Helena Vilhermina, Antonia Maria Van Ham of the CPT team, labor leaders Paulo Jose da Silva and Jose Gouveia, former vice mayor Severino Bento Raimundo, rural worker Maurino Severino dos Santos and 30 other rural workers. This condemnation also was re-opened in the "Vara Agraria".

A recent letter from the National Office of the CPT supports the work of Frei Anastacio and the Paraiba CPT team in accompanying the landless in their struggle to press for a just land reform in Brazil. Faxes of solidarity should be sent to the following government officials:

Dr. Rafael Carneiro Arnaud

Presidente do Tribunal de Justica da Paraiba

Fax + 55 83 216-1531

Dr. Joao Alves da Silva

Juiz da Vara Agraria

Fax + 55 83 216-1448

Please CC faxes to

CPT -- Joao Pessoa/PB

Fax + 55 83 241-2243

Update: Judgment of Jose Rainha transferred to state capital.

In recent numbers of NEWS FROM BRAZIL we have reported on the campaign to have the re-trial of Jose Rainha Junior moved from the town of Pedro Canario, Espirito Santo, to the state capital, Vitoria. Rainha is accused of having taken part in the assassination of a rancher and policeman in Pedro Canario in June 1989 even though numerous witness testified that he was in another state on the day in question. He was sentenced to 26 years and 6 months imprisonment last June and the re-trial initially set for September 16 and moved later to September 29 has become an issue for Brazilian and international human rights groups who believe in his innocence.

On September 23 the high court judges in the State of Espirito Santo voted in favor of the transferral of his trial to the state capital where he is expected to have an fair trial. The signatures of five jurors in the town of Pedro Canario were recently found on a document requesting his condemnation. 3 of the five would have been on jury duty at his trial had it taken place in the town on September 16. Whilst no date has been set for the re-trial it is expected to take place in December.

SOCIAL ISSUES

- Report condemns police.

The military police in Brazil are amongst the worst in Latin America according to a report of Human Rights Watch / Americas which was presented to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso on September 18. In this category the Brazilian police find themselves at the bottom of the list with police in Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela. The four countries were considered record holders in the violation of human rights by the police in the report.

In Brazil, Human Rights Watch surveyed the situation of the police in seven state capitals. In Recife (State of Pernambuco), Sao Paulo and in Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul) public security policies were considered correct. In Rio de Janeiro and in Natal (Rio Grande do Norte) such policies were considered totally inadequate. Military police security policies in the state capitals of Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais) and Salvador (Bahia) even though surveyed did not receive comments in the report.

The executive director of Human Rights Watch / Americas, Jose Miguel Vivanco presented the 117 page report entitled ''Urban Police Brutality in Brazil'' to President Cardoso. Mr. Vivanco heard from President Cardoso that he favored a greater autonomy on the part of the states to organize their police forces. Mr. Vivanco also commented that the four countries were considered to have violent police forces ''because of the magnitude and gravity of problems such as torture, mis-treatment, illegal detention and impunity''.

- Prison unrest leaves two dead and causes widespread damage.

Recent days have been marked with unrest in Brazilian prisons. On September 29, 31 year old Roberto Carlos da Silva, a functionary in the police station in Itaquera, city of Sao Paulo, was killed during a break-out attempt by the 144 prisoners in the station who had two guns. An earlier escape attempt had failed two days earlier.

A 13 hour rebellion took place in the Pinheiros prison in Sao Paulo on September 30. The 489 prisoners held four hostages and demanded that 110 of their colleagues be transferred because of serious overcrowding in the jail. The jail was extensively damaged. The rebellion came to an end when an agreement was reached regarding the transferral of prisoners. The juvenile offenders prison in Brasilia (Caje) also was the scene of death and rebellion in recent days. A 17 year old youth offender was assassinated there on September 28. On September 30 a general rebellion took place in the prison when the director of the prison announced his resignation. He is being investigated for his probable participation with military police in the beating of youth who escaped from the prison a few days earlier. The rebellion which was the second in the space of a week was ended when the police entered the building using tear-gas.

58 female prisoners held in the police station in Mairopa (Greater Sao Paulo area) rebelled on the night of September 30. Once again the motive was overcrowding - there is only accommodation for eight prisoners in the station. The rebelling prisoners set fire to the interior of the police station. Police reinforcements and fire-fighters brought the situation into control. 15 prisoners will be transferred to the female prison in Tatuape, city of Sao Paulo. On October 01, 499 women prisoners threatened to start a rebellion in the Pinheiros female prison in Sao Paulo city. Again the prisoners complained of the chronic overcrowding.

This year so far there has been 17 rebellions of prisoners held in police stations in Sao Paulo. 103 escapes (many multiple) were registered - a total of 755 prisoners managed to escape during this period. 122 further attempts were frustrated. A total of 8008 prisoners are currently being held in police stations in Sao Paulo city awaiting places in jails.

INDIGENOUS QUESTIONS

- Newsletter of the Indigenous Missionary Council

Newsletter n. 278

THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS AND RURAL WORKERS ARE

DISCUSSED AT HUMAN RIGHTS CONFERENCE

The rights of indigenous peoples and rural workers and how the

globalization model disrupts the social fabric were some of the topics

that were discussed between September 14 and 17 at the 1st

International Human Rights Conference in Brasilia. The event gathered

1,600 participants, including lawyers, law students, and

representatives of human rights entities. It was organized by the

Federal Council of the Brazilian BAR Association (OAB) and the

National Human Rights Committee. An exhibition on the "Indigenous

Issue" was staged by the consultant of OAB's National Human Rights

Committee, Paulo Machado Guimaraes, and by Cimi's advisor for Latin

American issues, Paulino Montejo, in the morning of the first day

of the conference.

Concerned about the status of the constitutional rights of

indigenous populations in Brazil, Paulo Machado Guimaraes made a

presentation on the relations between indigenous peoples and the

Brazilian State. He highlighted that, according to the Constitution

which was promulgated in 1988, the multiethnic, pluricultural, and

multilinguistic reality of the Brazilian society must be respected in

all relations between the State and indigenous communities, from the

definition of territorial bounds to the assistance provided to

Indians. According to Guimaraes, the neoliberal policy adopted by

the Brazilian government has repeatedly disregarded this reality.

Cimi's advisor, Paulino Montejo, briefly reviewed the action of

indigenous populations at the international level and underlined

advances in indigenous organizations in countries such as Mexico,

Colombia, Guatemala, and Brazil. In Montejo's opinion, this unique

reaction of indigenous peoples is their response to the historic

marginalization they have suffered in the process by which National

States were established. After listing different claims being made by

indigenous peoples, including claims for the enforcement of certain

provisions of the international law, he stressed the essential need to

respect the right of Indians to be recognized as peoples, as

ethnically differentiated collective entities with the right to a

territory of their own and to self-determination under the laws of the

National State where they live.

Violence against rural workers was highlighted by the chairman of

the Land Pastoral Committee, dom Tomas Balduino, who stressed, among

other factors, that there is a strong intervention of the public power

behind land conflicts. This intervention can be felt in the repressive

action of the police and army, under the command of the Executive

Branch, against the occupation of land areas by landless workers, in

the eviction orders issued by judges or in the attitude of the

Legislative Branch, which has been passing laws favoring the

privatization and concentration of the land. Dom Tomas called on the

authorities to recognize rural workers as subjects of the Land Reform.

The 1st International Human Rights Conference discussed other

relevant topics such as racism, women's and children's rights, urban

violence, economic systems and social marginalization and the role of

the Church in promoting human rights. It was attended by Peace Nobel

Prize laureates Jose Ramos Horta and Adolfo Perez Esquivel, and also

by Mario Soares, ex-president of Portugal, and theologian Leonardo

Boff.

Brasilia, 18 September 1997

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