Number 429, December 8, 2000.
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In this week's issue:
>NEWS BRIEFS
- Government officials lose jobs over the issue of torture
- Ill jury member causes cancellation of the trial of the massacre at Carandiru
- Rural workers rob food truck in Sergipe
- Rural leaders receive death threats in state of Para
>INDIGENOUS ISSUES
- Conama sets up working group to discuss the establishment of conservation units in indigenous areas
NEWS BRIEFS
- Government officials lose jobs over the issue of torture
Two officials of Abin (the Brazilian Intelligence Agency) were fired and one other resigned this week over the issue of torture during the Brazilian dictatorship (1964-85). In the first case, the General Director of Abin, Ariel de Cunto, was fired for having nominated lieutenant Carlos Alberto del Menezzi to a post in Abin. Menezzi is among the 444 officers accused of torture by the group "Tortura Nunca Mais." Menezzi was also fired from his former post. Later in the week, Rubens Robine Bizerril, the coordenator of Planning and Public Security of the Ministry of Justice, stepped down from his post after rumors that his name has recently appeared in relation to torture activities during the military dictatorship. The two men deny that they participated in torture. However, when the press asked Bizerril if there were other people in the current government who participated in torture sessions, Bizerril replied, "Obviously." He went on to affirm that 13% of the personnel of Abin came from SNI, the secret police during the dictatorship.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
December 1, 5 & 7
- Ill jury member causes cancellation of the trial of the massacre at Carandiru
The trial of the first officer being held responsible for the massacre at Carandiru was canceled again this week, this time because one of the jury members became ill on the third day of the trial. (For more background on the masssacre at the Carandiru prison in 1992, see past issues of News from Brazil on our web site.) In Brazilian law, a case is automatically canceled if a jury member becomes ill and can no longer continue with the trial. This is the third time officer Ubiratan Guimaraes has had his trial canceled. The first time occurred in 1994 when the military courts determined that his case should be heard in a civilian court. The second time happened in July of this year when the lawyer for Guimaraes asked to be released from the case so that he could participate in his mayoral election campaign. Most likely, a new trial will be scheduled for March of 2001. Meanwhile, Guimaraes continues to enjoy his liberty.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
December 2, 2000
- Rural workers rob food truck in Sergipe
More than 200 rural workers connected to the MST (Movement of rural workers Without Land) stopped and robbed a food truck in the state of Sergipe. The action took place one week after the government announced that is plans to halt food distribution in the next fiscal year. According to the driver of the truck, the majority of those participating in the action were women and children. The MST said that 4,000 families in the area are starving and have no water. They have gone for six months without any food aid from the government and have lost all of their crops in the field do to lack of water.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
December 2, 2000
- Rural leaders receive death threats in state of Para
Two leaders of the MST (Movement of rural workers without Land) in the state of Para, whose names were withheld from the report for security purposes, have received death threats due to their past involvement with another MST leader, Jose Dutra da Costa, who was assassinated last month. Tensions are running high in the area as a local rancher, José Décio Barroso Nunes, has been arrested in connection with the death of Da Costa. Nunes has also been accused of illegally extracting wood from the region, maintaining slave labor on his ranch, and being the leader of a group of gunmen who have assassinated other people who have acted against the interests of ranchers. Da Costa had tried to bring Nunes to court on these charges, and was also organizing an occupation of a ranch which has connections to Nunes.
Source: Linha Aberta
December 7, 2000
INDIGENOUS ISSUES
- Conama sets up working group to discuss the establishment of conservation units in indigenous areas
The National Council for the Environment (Conama) has decided to set up a working group composed of representatives of non-governmental organizations dealing with environmental and indigenous issues to define alternatives for the impasse around the existence of conservation units inside indigenous areas. This group will follow up the activities being carried out by an existing governmental group. The decision was made at an extraordinary meeting held on November 14. According to data provided by the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), an agency of the Ministry of Environment, 28 conservation units have been established in indigenous territories.
As Cimi mentioned at that meeting, it is perfectly possible and necessary to preserve the environment in indigenous areas under the provisions of the Constitution and specific rules. The constitutional rights of indigenous people, however, prevail over the normative treatment of conservation units, which means that the establishment of such units in indigenous lands is unconstitutional. For this reason, the Conama must annul the decrees that created conservation units in indigenous territories.
Cimi reported administrative problems to Conama derived from how governmental agencies, in this case the Ibama, have been treating indigenous communities where conservation units have been established. Conflicts between indigenous people and Ibama officials have become commonplace, revealing the inability of these officials to deal with the presence of indigenous people in conservation units. Restrictions and limitations on the permanent possession of indigenous areas by indigenous people have been imposed in some cases as a result of the position adopted by environmental groups and even by the official environmental agency, which have often treated indigenous people as predators and devastators of the environment.
The deputy attorney general and coordinator of the 6th Coordination and Review Chamber, Maria Eliane Menezes de Farias, stated very clearly that indigenous people cannot be charged with deforesting and devastating forests because of the presence of invaders in indigenous lands. In her opinion, all indigenous lands must be demarcated immediately and all invaders removed from them before any discussions on the preservation of the environment in indigenous areas can be held.
According to Cimi, indigenous people should not be treated as devastators of the environment, considering that they have managed to preserve their lands despite the 500 years of an economic project that has destroyed the environment in many areas, which at present is represented by a neoliberal model whose goal is to exploit natural resources indiscriminately. In various conservation units, such as Monte Pascoal (state of Bahia) and Piraqueçú and Piraquemirim (state of Espírito Santo), indigenous people have reported the devastation of the environment and have managed to expel the perpetrators of such acts from affected areas.
Source: Cimi
November 16, 2000
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