Number 42, August 13, 1992.

NATIONAL POLITICS

- Workers Party prepares petition of impeachment of Collor.

Jurists advising the National Directorate and the president of the Workers Party (PT) Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, are preparing the legal proceedings of a petition of the impeachment of President Fernando Collor de Mello. The PT is also supporting the movement of an impeachment petition promoted by the opposition. Workers Party members of Congress are accompanying the work of the Attorney General, who may eventually open legal proceedings against Collor in the Federal Supreme Court for crimes of responsibility.

- Meneguelli sees need "to rethink" Brazil.

Brazil "needs to be re-thought", said CUT labor union president Jair Meneguelli, commenting on the short and long-term significance of the Parliamentary Investigating Commission (CPI) in the PC Farias case. For Meneguelli, the country "is maturing" with its reaction to the actions of the power circle which surrounds President Fernando Collor de Mello. "Starting now, anyone who has a public function will think twice before committing an action against public decorum."

- Bank clerks evaluate effects of PC/Collor scheme.

Thirty per cent of the federal budget, the amount embezzled in the Paulo Cesar Farias/Fernando Collor de Mello scheme, is equal to the entire budgetary prevision allotted to Social Security. This evaluation was made by the Bank Clerks Union of Sao Paulo. The union also states that this embezzlement equals 6.7% of the Gross National Product, twice the amount that Collor intended to collect with his fiscal reform plan, and the equivalent of 25 million units of low-income housing.

- Sao Paulo bishops orient communities on elections.

Voting conscientiously in the upcoming municipal elections means "choosing candidates marked by consistency, integrity, honesty, and competency, at the service of the people", stated Sao Paulo bishops in a document on pastoral orientations for the elections of October and November. The document adds that "the Church has the right and the duty to be present in the political field, because Christianity must evangelize all of human existence."

EXTERNAL DEBT

- Audit of external debt is defended.

An audit of Brazil's public external debt is defended by economist Marcos Arruda, of the Institute of Alternative Policies for the Southern Cone, in an analysis of the recent agreement signed by the Brazilian government and private creditors. For Arruda, the agreement and other policies in this area "are part of the pharmacopoeia which debtor countries choose to adopt in order to 'normalize' their relations with the international financial system."

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

-Amazon Region still has 70% of indigenous areas to be demarcated.

Seventy per cent of the indigenous areas of the Brazilian Amazon Region have not been demarcated, according to the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB) and the Permanent Forum of the Amazon Region. The constitutional period given for the demarcation of all indigenous lands expires on October 5, 1993. The National Foundation of the Indian (FUNAI) states that it has only 4% of the funds necessary for the demarcation of lands this year.

- Miners continue to invade Yanomami area.

Miners remain in the land of the Yanomami, despite the administrative demarcation by President Collor of their lands, according to a report from the Commission for the Creation of the Yanomami Park (CCPY). According to the CCPY, pressures are mounting to reverse the presidential decree. "The importance of the Yanomami as the last great indigenous people of the Americas-still in their initial contacts with non-Indians - demands that a retrocession of the victories gained up to now be avoided, and that the situation which threatens their survival be ended."

- Native peoples launch publicity campaign for demarcation of land.

Since all indigenous areas of Brazil are to be demarcated by October of next year-according to the Federal Constitution-indigenous peoples of the Amazon Region have decided to initiate a publicity campaign for demarcation. The campaign, with the

motto, "Land demarcated, Life preserved", which hit the streets of Manaus in July, is being promoted by the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon Region (COIAB) and by the Permanent Forum of the Amazon Region. In August, the campaign will begin in the states of Acre, Rondonia, Roraima, Para, and Amapa. More information about campaign materials such as buttons, stickers, posters, folders, and t-shirts can be obtained by calling (092)233-0548 and (092) 233-5020.

LAND ISSUES

- Rural violence continues in Brazil, says Americas Watch.

Rural violence in Brazil continues, says the North American human rights organization Americas Watch in a recent report, not yet published in Portuguese, from Washington. The report is a continuation of the organization's 1991 report. Americas Watch states that the impunity of the orderers and authors of violence against rural workers is "something chronic."

- Santa Catarina prepares Land Pilgrimage.

The seventh Land Pilgrimage in the state of Santa Catarina will occur in the town of Forquilinha on September 13. The slogan of the pilgrimage is "Whoever robs and wounds the earth, robs and wounds the sons and daughters of the earth." The theme of the celebration will be "Ecology and Liberation of the Earth."

- FAO study reveals the viability of agrarian reform.

A recent study of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN reveals the viability of agrarian reform in Brazil, provided it is analyzed seriously and with the participation of workers. The study, which was confidential, presents data with the main socio-economic indicators of the settlements of the landless rural workers in the country.

- Professors of Santa Catarina universities support farmworkers.

Professors from three Santa Catarina universities recently formed the Permanent Forum of Support for Basic Education and are providing support to 72 schools installed in settlements of rural landless workers.

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