Number 292, November 06, 1997.

LAND ISSUES

- 1998 presidential election brings promise for settlement of 1 million landless families.

According to reports in the 'Folha de Sao Paulo' on October 27 and 28, the Minister for Land Policy, Raul Jungmann has prepared a secret plan which proposes to settle 1 million landless families by the year 2002. According to the reports, the plan is part of a strategy in the re-election campaign of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso - the presidential election is scheduled for next October. The proposed plan would cost approximately US $15 billion creating 3 million new jobs and would eventually bring in US $4.5 billion in tax contributions each year. The plan estimates that the federal government would spent U.S. $2.5 billion in 1998 and just over U.S. $3 billion during each of the following four years to settle the 1 million landless families. 750 thousand families would be settled on exappropriated areas and a further 250 thousand on land bought by the government.

The agrarian reform plan was commissioned when re-elections strategists perceived that the promise of continued economic stability would not suffice to re-elect President Cardoso. Public opinion polls carried out for the President's office have detected that Brazilians are very critical of the lack of social programs on the part of the present government especially in the areas of unemployment and agrarian reform. The Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) has claimed on numerous occasions in recent years that its' objective is the settlement of 1 million landless families. During the 1994 presidential election the Workers' Party (PT) proposed the settlement of 800 thousand landless families. President Cardoso promised during his election campaign to settle 280 thousand landless families during his four year term of office. During two years and 10 months of office, 104 thousand such families have been settled.

The plan drew criticisms from groups representing the landless. Gilmar Mauro, one of the national leaders of the MST, claimed that the plan was only made with a view to the re-election campaign of President Cardoso. ''The president had four years to resolve problems which were priorities during his election campaign and has not done so. It is strange that this should happen (a new agrarian reform plan) in the pre-election period'' commented Mauro. He went on to remark ''Our movement did not arise so that it could become stronger. Our objective is to carry out an agrarian reform. If the government does what it is promising (in the new plan) it would be the end of us. We really hope that that happens'' MST data shows that there are 4.8 landless families in the country. ''For this reason even if they (the government) carry out the promise we would have 3.8 million families to defend.... it would be foolishness to believe (in the government promise). Plans in themselves are not sufficient. What resolves such a problem is action. And in this area the Fernando Henrique (Cardoso) government has failed'' observed Mauro.

The Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) which works with families in situations of land conflict and which is linked to the Catholic Church commented in its' recent bulletin (Noticias da Terra, Number 12/97, October 30) that the plan forms part of a strategy by the federal government to gain favorable national and international support for its' land policies. The CPT report recalls that President Cardoso plans to visit England in early December and the plan was leaked to improve the foreign image of the Brazilian government regarding rural questions. ''At no time has the government recognized that its' agricultural policy has forced people to leave the land at a speed much greater than that of the families being resettled and that its' policy to emancipate the settlements is more and more throwing such farmers into a cruel market ..... the process which is taking place in no way merits the name of agrarian reform because really it is not associated with an agrarian policy compatible with the interests of family farming and even less does it bring about a real alternative to the increasing degree of land concentration in the country'' commented the CPT bulletin.

The plan also received criticism from the president of the Democratic Rural Union (UDR - which represents the interests of the large ranchers), Roosevlt Roque dos Santos. ''We are going to fill the rural areas with an impoverished mass; with workers who do not have the technology to produce. This is only demagogy connected to the election'' he commented.

- Landless march in State of Parana.

A march of the landless which lasted a month and set out from various points of the State of Parana promoted by the MST arrived in the state capital, Curitiba, on October 22. An estimated 8 thousand people were present at the arrival of the marchers. The marchers demanded an end to rural violence and the freeing of imprisioned MST leaders in the state. We reported in recent number of NEWS FROM BRAZIL that over the last weeks more than 20 such leaders had been imprisoned. With the arrival of the march a further two leaders were released - five still remain in prison.

Two days before the arrival of the landless in Curitiba, the state government received a letter with the forged signature of the executive secretary of the CPT in the State of Parana, Jelson Oliveira. The forged letter contained threats that the landless would occupy public buildings in the city. The CPT saw this as a tactic to draw the support of the bishops for the government against the MST and the CPT. The tactic however failed and the marchers were received at the cathedral by Archbishop Pedro Fadalto. Since the end of the march, ranchers' organizations have mounted a very costly publicity campaign accusing the MST of violence in the state. Video material used in the publicity depicting such violence is of organizations which have no links with the MST.

- Assassination of rural leader.

We publish the following report which was prepared by the International Rivers Network and the Movement of Dam Affected Peoples (MAB) regarding the assassination of Fulgencio Manoel da Silva - one of the founding members of MAB.

PRESS RELEASE

Friday, October 17, 1997

Glenn Switkes

Latin America Program Director

+55.65.627.1689

+55.65.971.6306

glen@nutecnet.com.br

Leader in Movement for Rights of Dam-Affected is Murdered

(Sao Paulo) Fulgencio Manoel da Silva, a leader of the dam-affected peoples' movement in the northeast of Brazil, was shot and killed yesterday by an unknown assailant in Santa Maria da Boa Vista, in the backlands of Pernambuco state. Flown to the state capital of Recife, 800 km away, he died in a hospital there late last night.

Da Silva was one of 40,000 people expelled from their homes in the dry northeast of Brazil to make way for Itaparica Dam. He told how, not long after he learned his family would lose their land to Itaparica, he met a family of beggars living under a bridge who had once made their living farming before being evicted for the dam. This experience, he said, shocked him into organizing the Itaparica families. "The effects (of the dam) were terrible," he said, "with many farmers ending up penniless, with no land or other source of income".

While the motive of his murder is still unclear, it is suspected that the killing of Da Silva was ordered by drug traffickers operating in the resettlement communities. Earlier this year, Da Silva played a major role in preparing a complaint by people affected by Itaparica. The complaint was formally presented to the World Bank, one of the principal funders of the resettlement scheme. The dam-affected stated that even ten years after the dam's construction, they still had not been provided the promised critical irrigation water. This, they said, had led to a worsening of living conditions, and to an increase in violence and drug-dealing in the communities. The complaint charged that funds earmarked for improving resettlement conditions had been illegally diverted, and called on the Bank to take action to improve the situation. But, following intense lobbying by the Brazilian government, the Bank's Board of Directors refused to authorize an investigation.

The Brazilian Movement of Dam-Affected People (MAB), of which Fulgencio was a founder, blames his murder on the deplorable social conditions resulting from the failure of the electric company, CHESF, to adequately compensate dam oustees. "This generated the conditions which led to this type of criminality, where families plant marijuana as a means of survival" According to MAB, "Money from the World Bank never reached families of small farmers, but instead was used to irrigate drug plantations."

Glenn Switkes, of the California-based International Rivers Network says "Fulgencio was one of many leaders of dam-affected people throughout Brazil who have the courage to speak up for people whose basic rights are cast aside when large dams are planned and constructed."

Aurelio Vianna, of the Brazilian Network on Multilateral Lending Institutions, remembered Fulgencio as "a leader of rare value, who brought poetic expression to his political work by writing verses for repentistas (home-spun dialogues in music from the Brazilian northeast). Many times, he would write meeting reports in the form of verse."

In one of his poems, Fulgencio wrote "The river is our life-water. What we do with it affects the life of the people, the life of the animals, the life of the river, and the life of the waters. This is true for the world, not just for Brazil."

For more information:

Ricardo Montagner, MAB +55.54.522.1857

Aurelio Vianna, Rede Brasil +55.61.226.8093

INTERNATIONAL RIVERS NETWORK

1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703 USA

Tel: (510) 848-1155 / Fax: (510) 848-1008 / irn@irn.org / http://www.irn.org

SOCIAL ISSUES

- Large number of cases could bring Supreme Court to a standstill.

According to calculations, the Federal Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal) will receive approximately 40 thousand cases during this year; this compares with 31633 cases last year, 14487 in 1990 and 9007 in 1980. The 11 members of the court - the highest court in the country, will judge approximately 35 thousand cases during the same period. According to a report in the 'Folha de Sao Paulo' on November 13 this amounts to an average of 17.5 cases per judge per working day.

''In less than two years the Supreme Court will no longer be viable'' commented its' president Celso de Mello who calls for a reformation of the judicial system. The Superior Tribunal of Justice and the Superior Work Tribunal are both facing similar difficulties. The former will have judged 100 thousand cases by the end of the year. It judged 77629 cases during 1996 - 29.169 were left for later. This court was established by the 1988 Constitution to take some of the burden off the Supreme Court and to allow it to deal only with constitutional questions. The Supreme Tribunal of Justice has 33 judges. The Superior Work Tribunal received 106730 cases last year and judged 57773. In 1995 the number had been 93484 (56033 judged) and in 1992, 28447 (24758 judged).

On average a case delays eight years to reach the Supreme Court. ''This is an unjust delay. The fundamental right of a juridical solution within a reasonable time-span is not being respected and this is criminal'' commented Supreme Court Judge Mello. As the law stands at the moment all cases in theory can be sent to the Supreme Court. Cases similar to former cases already judged in the Supreme Court frequently appear there - in this case jurisprudence from the former cases cannot be invoked in lower courts to give a definitive sentence - all such cases must again be examined by the judges of the Supreme Court when they are requested to do so.

''Those who are better off and can pay good lawyers have a greater possibility of having their arguments heard and examined by the courts'' according to Supreme Court Judge Mello. Thus better prepared lawyers can easily find legal loop-holes and can easily bring their cases to the Supreme Court and to the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. The fact that almost 70% of the cases which find their way to these superior courts come from the States of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (the richest states in the country) seems to substantiate Judge Mello's observations.

- More than 1 thousand homeless occupy public building in Sao Paulo.

Late on November 02 over a thousand homeless people occupied a 14 floor unoccupied building in the center of Sao Paulo. The building belongs to the National Institute of Social Services (INSS). The occupation was spearheaded by members of a homeless organization - the Tenements Forum. The majority of those who took part were women and children. This recent occupation of the INSS building was the fourth this year by a large group in the center of Sao Paulo and the third in which the Tenements Forum was involved. For example, on March 09, 500 homeless occupied four unused buildings and have remained there until the present.

''If they were to leave us here, if they were to repair the building, I would stay. For me, I would prefer to live under the bridge. But what about the children?'' commented 39 year old Vanuzia Francisco dos Santos, one of the people who occupied the unused INSS building. 43 year old Gilbertina Alves had been paying US $360 per month for a tenement room in the center of the city. ''I just cannot pay the rent any longer'' she commented.

- Rebellions and jail break-outs.

On October 29, 90 prisoners rebelled and controlled the prison for 11 hours in Lorena, State of Sao Paulo. The prisoners demanded transferral to other prisons to alleviate the overcrowding in the prison - the Lorena prison has accommodation for 32 prisoners. The prisoners also demanded that their sentences be reviewed.

Early on October 29, 65 prisoners escaped from the state prison in the city of Piracicaba, State of Sao Paulo by digging a 12 meter tunnel. Shortly after the mass escape, 22 prisoners were recaptured. On November 02, 58 adolescents escaped from the young offenders prison (FEBEM) in Tatuape, city of Sao Paulo - 20 were recaptured. On November 04 a further 25 fled. During the November 02 escape one of the youth was armed. A rebellion and mass escape of 150 young offenders took place in the Imigrantes FEBEM, in the southern region of Sao Paulo city on the afternoon of November 05. Here overcrowding was the motive for the initial rebellion - 450 youth were being held in an area designed to hold 180. Almost 100 of the youth were soon recaptured by the police. Between January and August of this year an average of 41.2 escapes per month per registered in young offenders prisons in Sao Paulo. This compares to 63.1 during the same period last year.

VIOLENCE

Sao Paulo: report on police violence.

During the first nine months of this year the police ombuds-person's office in Sao Paulo attended 894 complaints according to a report published on October 29. The leading complaint registered during this period against the police was abuse of authority. In second place came complaints of inadequate conduct by police. This is a wide-ranging category and covers cases as diverse as the personal use of police cars by police to instances where police were drunk on duty. In third place came complaints of inadequate attendance in the police stations.

In the case of abuse of authority, the majority of complaints were registered against military police. On the other hand, complaints of inadequate attendance were more common against civil police. According to the police ombuds-person, Benedito Domingos Mariano, scenes of police violence widely screened earlier in the year encouraged the general public to register complaints against the police. ''The reading I make of the data is that the population has become more preoccupied with the comportment and posture of the police on the streets than with the lack of policing'' he commented. He also pointed to an noticeable increase in denouncements of police involvement in extortion. This complaint was in 11th place on the list of complaints last year. During the first nine months of this year it had jumped to 5th place - a total of 69 cases. 71% of the complaints were against the civil police. 145 of the 894 cases complained of abuse of authority. 19 cases of murders by police were registered; beatings and tortures amounted to 43 and threats to 26.

Newspaper reports in recent days carried reports of violence within the police force. The case of a military policeman identified in the ombuds-person's report as P.C.S. refers to a member of the force who claims that he was beaten and was subjected to electric shocks when he came last July from the city of Franca in the interior of the state to take part in a special training course of the ROTA - an elite group of the military police force in the state. According to the policeman who has been in the force for eight years, the aggression he suffered was part of an initiation right to which all aspirants of the ROTA are subjected. At the moment P.C.S. has taken a year's leave of absence from the military police. ''Torture is already a serious crime. But to subject a state policeman to electric shocks is doubly serious because without any doubt he will take this out on the population'' commented Mr. Mariano.

(Source: 'Folha de Sao Paulo', October 29 and 30.

CHILDREN'S ISSUES

- 3.3 million young children work in Brazil.

The question of children working gained attention once again in recent days due to the International Conference on Child Labor held in Oslo between October 28 and 30. Figures released by the government on the occasion show that the majority of children between 10 and 14 years who work in Brazil are not paid. A document prepared by the Ministry of Labor shows that 1.9 million children (56.6%) of a total of 3.3 million working children from this age group are not paid.

Of the children who earn, 88.8% earn up to US $100 per month. 58% work between 15 and 39 hours weekly. 87.4% of the working children in this age group are males. The largest number is employed in agriculture followed by commerce, industry and services. Jorge Jatoba of the Ministry of Labor commented that poverty is one of the chief reasons for the early entry of the children into the work market. He also claimed that a low level of formal education on the part of the families of these children was responsible for putting many children in the labor market. Entry into this market is in turn a vicious circle; the children who arrive in school tired after work have less power of concentration and this lack of energy causes more frequent absence from school, repetition of the school year and health problems.

Brazil is one of the few countries which has not signed the International Work Organization Convention which prohibits that children under 15 years be allowed to work. According to the government this agreement has not been signed because the Brazilian Constitution promulgated in 1988 allows children of between 12 and 14 years to work as apprentices. According to the Minister for Labor, Paulo Paiva, the government plans to change the Constitution in this regard and sign the Convention.

One of the Brazilian representatives at the Oslo Conference was the wife of President Cardoso, anthropologist Ruth Cardoso. Referring to the fact that many children work in Brazil to help to increase the family income she commented ''The fact that we have a low (minimum) salary, we all know. But the problem isn't only linked to poverty. We see that the middle class in Brazil easily defends that it is better having children working than on the streets. I believe that it would be better to have them in school''.

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) referring to the Oslo meeting commented in a statement last week ''In a model of development which generates millions of 'unemployables', we would wish that children would not be called on to work; that they would be able to play, study and be prepared for life and work and that they would enjoy life conditions better than those which put the Brazil of a stable monetary currency in 63rd. place in the report of the world situation of children (UNICEF/1996).

When situations of child labor are exposed by the media they provoke collective commotion. However this feeling does not always transform itself into effective and lasting action. For this reason we call on all people who are aware of the indignity of the exploitation to which children yet are subjected at the threshold of the third millenarian, to become part of a huge effort of vigilance and to denounce known situations of child labor and to have the Children's and Adolescent's Statute implemented. Besides, we also request that they support initiatives which are increasing, uniting different organizations - pastoral, of the employers and of the government, in this common effort to restore childhood to our children''.

HEALTH ISSUES

- Bishops call for a Christmas indult for prisoners who are seriously ill.

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) sent a letter to President Cardoso on October 28 calling for a Christmas indult to release prisoners who are seriously ill such as those with AIDS or suffering from severe physical deficiencies. The Ministry for Health calculates that 22500 of a total of 150 thousand prisoners in Brazil have AIDS. On the other hand the CNBB believes that as many as 1 in every 6 prisoners have AIDS. In the general Brazilian population the proportion is 1 to 364.

According to a spokesperson for the CNBB, Bishop Demetrio Valentini, the proposal is such that the prisoners to be freed are no longer a threat to society and ''besides this, a person who is terminally ill cannot be condemned any more because such a person (due to the illness) is already condemned'' According to Bishop Valentini ''prison rebellions frequently happen due to the kindness and human indignation of the prisoners against the bad treatment which their ill colleagues receive''. The proposal of the Christmas indult by the CNBB comes as a result of this year's Lenten Campaign which focused on the question of prisoners and prisons in Brazil.

- Dengue increases due to health cuts.

The 'Folha de Sao Paulo' reported on October 26 that hospitals admissions due to dengue have increased by 581% this year. At the same time only 12% of funds budgeted to combat the insect which provokes the disease had been released until August - approximately US $23.4 million of a total of US $86 million. The last year with complete figures on the disease is 1995 when a total of 155 thousand were affected by dengue.

INDIGENOUS ISSUES

- Newsletter from the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI).

Newsletter n. 284

PPG-7 ASSESSES SUPPORT TO PROJECTS IN AMAZONIA. IDB CRITICIZES BRAZIL

The fourth annual meeting of participants in the Pilot Program for the Conservation of Rain Forests in Brazil (PPG-7), funded by the so-called Group of the seven (Germany, United States, France, Italy, England, Canada, and Japan), was marked by criticism, complaints, and demands. The Brazilian government, represented by the Ministry of Environment and Funai, complained that it is taking too long for funds to be released and that the contribution from the United States and Japan is minimal. It said that only Germany is truly supporting the Program. Upset, the manager of the World Bank for the PPG-7, Roberto Schneider, said that such criticism is ungrounded and mentioned shortcomings in the implementation of the Program. The general coordinator of the Coordinating Board for Indigenous Organizations of Brazilian Amazonia (Coiab), Darcy Marubo, highlighted the importance of the PPG-7 to the indigenous issue but emphasized that indigenous populations should take part in the management and inspection of resources.

The meeting was originally intended to assess the first phase of the Program, but Brazil took advantage of it to request the early release of US$ 90 million of funds to be invested in the second phase, to complete 150 projects which are under way in extractive reservations and indigenous lands. Of the US$ 250 million allocated to the PPG-7, US$ 30 million were earmarked to the Integrated Project for the Protection of Indigenous Areas and Populations in Amazonia (PPTAL), US$ 14 million were supposed to be applied in the demarcation of indigenous lands and the rest in the development, subsistence, and inspection of indigenous areas. The lack of organization and the conflicting figures reported in the meeting made it difficult to know the sum that was actually applied. However, Germany assured that it would be contributing an additional sum of US$ 35 million and continues to be the largest individual donor of the PPG-7.

With only two minutes to present the opinion of indigenous peoples, Darcy Marubo requested that priority be given to the demarcation of 56 areas, among which the Bananal Island (state of Tocantins), the Juma (state of Amazonas), the Javari Valley (state of Amazonas), and Raposa/Serra do Sol (state of Roraima). He also requested that the areas be inspected, that indigenous populations be provided with the technology to demarcate their own areas, and that this demarcation mode be officially recognized. Indigenous populations would like to be covered by self-subsistence projects and by a plan of governmental goals based on the commitment to improve environmental laws, and to participate in forums aimed at assessing the PPTAL with intervention mechanisms to put an end to any misapplication of resources or inadequate implementation of the Project.

The claims of indigenous peoples are in tune with the concerns expressed by the director of the IDB, Roberto Schneider, to the press. According to Schneider, the Brazilian government has not advanced in the formulation of a policy dealing with the environment and development jointly. He also declared that Brazil has been receiving funds from other sources and that the PPG-7 is not be seen as the savior of Brazilian environmental projects.

WOMEN GET TOGETHER IN LATIN AMERICAN ASSEMBLY

133 women from 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries and Canada will be in Brasilia on November 2 and 3 to take part in the first Latin American Assembly of Rural Women. The Assembly offers an opportunity for rural women, who have been fighting against exploitation and social marginalization for years, to articulate their actions. The Assembly will discuss and adopt a critical and radical posture in relation to the effects of neoliberalism on the movement of rural women, in addition to defining mechanisms for the women to participate in the Via Campesino and in the Latin American Coordinating Board for Rural Organizations (CLOC), which will be holding a Congress on November 3-7 in Brasilia.

Brasilia, 30 October 1997

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