Number 384, January 21, 2000.

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In this week's issue:

>NEWS BRIEFS

- Five arrested for attacking indigenous village

- Unemployment falls again in Sao Paulo

- Confrontation in Parana leaves 13 injured

- UN asks for retrial of officers involved in the massacre at Carajas

- Oil spill in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, biggest since 1975

>URGENT ACTION APPEAL

- More developments on the ongoing saga of the damming of the River Ribeira

NEWS BRIEFS

- Five arrested for attacking indigenous village

The Federal Police arrested this week five men accused of invading an indigenous village and setting fire to 25 homes of Guarani-Caiuas Indians in Paranhos, Mato Grosso. At least five children were hurt in the attack and four women may have been raped, according to the police. At least 50 men were involved in this attempt to expel the indigenous from the land. Funai (the government indigenous bureau) is holding large landowners who are trying to gain control of the land in the area responsible for the crime.

Source: Folha de Sao Paulo

January 16, 2000

- Unemployment falls again in Sao Paulo

The rate of unemployment in one of the country’s industrial centers, Sao Paulo, fell again in the month of November for the third consecutive month. The rate dropped from 18.6% to 17.5%, according to the research agency Dieese. The average for the year, however, is still a record at 19.3%, the highest since 1985. According to Pedro Paulo Martoni Branco, the executive director of the agency, the result reflects that businesses have more confidence in the economy, and are filling up vacancies that were created when the Real (Brazil’s monetary unit) plummeted at the beginning of 1999. The study also revealed that the average real income dropped from R$909 in December of 1998 to R$848 in November of 1999. When the numbers are separated by social classes, the group most affected by decrease in real income are the most poor of the population.

Source: Folha de Sao Paulo

- Confrontation in Parana leaves 13 injured

A confrontation between members of the MST (Movement of rural workers Without Land) and the military police in Diamante do Norte, Parana, ended with 13 people being wounded and 14 arrested. The conflict began when MST members reacted to a judicial order for the eviction of the rural workers from the property after an three month occupation. The military police carried out the eviction in the early hours of the morning, which is illegal by Brazilian law. The 196+ families were transported to their cities of origin after the conflict, except for those who were arrested, who are now imprisoned in Nova Lodrina (in the northwest part of the state).

Source: Folha de Sao Paulo

January 18, 2000

- UN asks for retrial of officers involved in the massacre at Carajas

The United Nations has asked for a retrial of the three military officers found innocent this past August in the massacre of rural workers at Eldorado do Carajas, Belem (use our search engine on our website to learn more about the case). Holland judge Hans Von Agglen, a member of the UN’s Human Rights Commission, met with the president of Para’s Justice Tribunal to the UN’s concern with the impunity of those involved in the massacre. "The UN is not content with this absolution, and I have come to relay this message to the president of the tribunal," said Von Agglen. The tribunal handed over to Von Agglen a report on the court’s proceedings. This report will be presented in Geneva this coming September in a meeting of the Human Rights Commission. "If the country is considered at fault, the will be various economic sanctions," said Von Agglen.

Source: Linha Aberta, Partido dos Trabalhadores

January 18, 2000

- Oil spill in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, biggest since 1975

A major oil spill has occurred in Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro. It is the biggest spill in the area since 1975. An estimated 500 tons (130,000 gallons) of oils leaked out from a pipeline belonging to Petrobras, and has so far affected an area of 80 square kilometers. The spill has caused extensive environmental damages, affecting plants, fish, birds and popular beaches. (The spill has not affected the famous beaches of the city of Rio, such as Impanema, Copacabana, Leblon, etc.) Yesterday, the spill affected Guapimirim, the last ecological reserve in the bay. Petrobras could receive up to a US$24 million fine for the disaster.

Source: Folha de Sao Paulo

January 20 & 21, 2000

URGENT ACTION APPEAL

- More developments on the ongoing saga of the damming of the River Ribeira

During recent years we have carried numerous reports of opposition to the construction of four hydo-electric dams on the River Ribeira de Iguape on the frontier between the States of Parana and Sao Paulo. Local organizations and groups point to the widespread ecological and social damages such projects would provoke. A couple of years ago, a court decision in Sao Paulo halted the construction of the first of the dams at Tijuco Alto even though the governments of the States of Sao Paulo and Parana had authorized its construction.

The area in question is the Atlantic Rainforest (Mata Atlantica) whose present day distribution represents a mere 8% of the area originally covered by this forest in Brazil. Environmentalists in Brazil feel that this authorization will open the door for the state electricity company to construct a further three dams already planned and so cause more widespread environmental and social damage.

With the construction of the dam at Tijuco Alto and the likely construction of a further three at Itaoca, Funil and Batatal the foreseen environmental and social damages are as follows:

- The flooding of 11000 hectares of the best agricultural land in the region of which approximately 2500 hectares are of Atlantic Rainforest.

- The flooding of almost 100 important pre-colonial archaeological sites not yet studied or excavated.

- The expulsion of at least 4000 families from the area to be flooded.

- The extermination of 18 quilombos (historical Afro-Brazilian communities of descendants of escaped slaves).

- 11 caves and historical monuments from early colonial times will be submerged by the flood-waters.

- Widespread damage to the Iguape-Cananeia estuary will be caused by the construction of the dams. Internationally this estuary is considered to be a very important and unique area environmentally and approximately 8000 families make their livelihood from fishing there.

There has been new developments on the story. Recently, the public promoter ordered IBAMA (the national environmental protection agency who now has been given the decision to allow or not the building of the dam belonging to wealthy businessman Antonio Ermirio de Moraes) to do a survey not only of the surrounding area of the dam but of the whole valley area. IBAMA hired three environmental technicians from the University of Sao Paulo to analyze and evaluate the area in question. The three technicians never made contact with the local people involved. A member of the community against the flooding of the valley talked with the technicians, and then became suspicious. The public promoter was informed and had an interview with the technicians. The public promoter found appalling inconsistencies. The three were able to explain very little of what they had reported. The public promoter requested a copy of the contract that IBAMA made with the technicians only to discover that the three are actually employees of the very person promoting the dam project, Antonio Ermirio de Moraes! On further investigation it was revealed that the three do not belong to the University of Sao Paulo, but only have offices in university buildings.

The press are afraid of Antonio Ermirio de Moraes and refused to publish the story. The governor of Sao Paulo has done nothing. Sejup is still awaiting more details on the story, but those involved have asked that letters of protest be sent to the address below. If more names and places of where to send protest letters come to us, then we will pass them on to you. We want to emphasize how effective international pressure has been in this case. Antonio Ermirio de Moraes has been trying to dam the area for several years with no success, due in part to your responses!

IBAMA/SP

Alameda Tietê 637

7 Andar

01417-020 Sao Paulo - Capital Sao Paulo

Brasil

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