Number 470, May 31, 2002.
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- Nine Sargeants Absolved in Eldorado do Carajas Massacre
Seven jurors of the Eldorado do Carajas massacre case absolved nine
sergeants of the Marabá troop in Para of accusations of participation in
the deaths of 19 landless peasants that occurred on April 17, 1996. The
judgment lasted for 17 hours and was announced on Tuesday, May 28, 2002.
The prosecutors are requesting that the judgment be annulled contending that
the proofs against the accused are confusing and that the jury was divided
in its decision. Of the nine sergeants, seven were absolved in votes of 4
to 3. Prosecutor Marco Aurélio Nascimento attacked the so called "pact of
silence" among the police. "They deny everything, yet had the power to
control the soldiers." Prosecutor Rui Barbosa stated that "the sergeants
are the link between the officials and the military soldiers." Luiz Alberto
Abdoral Lopes, the lawyer for the sergeants and ex-colonel of the military
police, argued that there is no proof of "individual criminal conduct" of
the sergeants.
In early May, Colonel Mário Colares Pantoja, the commander of the
military police, was condemned to 228 years in prison for his role in the
massacre. Major José Maria Oliveira was condemned to 158 years in prison.
Both are out on bail and are appealing their cases. Military police Captain
Raimundo Lameira was absolved in the case. On June 4, four lieutenants, 2
sergeants, and 129 military police will be judged.
(Source: MST web-site, Folha de São Paulo, May 29, 2002)
- Army Transports Soldier to the Cana Brava Region, Goiás
Approximately 800 military police and army soldiers are positioned in
the city of Minacu, Goiás at the entrance to the Cana Brava Dam. They are
there to prevent access to those families who lost their land and
livelihoods because of the dam. A "party" is planned to inaugurate the
hidro-electric power station.
The climate in the city is tense. Six hundred families are present to demand a
solution to the problems caused by the construction of the dam. The
majority of the families have not been acknowleged by the construction
company. Only a few have received the reparation payment of less than
$2,000. Most were offered $13.00. A majority of the families made their
living by farming, mining and fishing before losing their source of
survival. They are being ignored by Tractebel, the French-Belgian
multinational responsible for the dam and the families are now landless and
migrating to the periphery of the large city.
Tractebel is hoping for the presence of President Fernando Henrique
Cardoso and the governor of the state of Goiás for the inauguration of the
dam which will be followed by a lunch with local oligarchy officials The
farmers who lost their land are barred from the inauguration. Three large
police barriers have closed the highway that connects Minacu to the dam and
army soldiers are strategically positioned and ready to act in various
points of the area.
According to Djalma Martins Dias, who was personally affected by the
Cana Brava Dam, and is a leader of MAB (movement of peoples affected by
dams), farmers will continue to protest until Tractebel solves the problems
caused by the dam. Djalma said that the families only want to have a small
plot of land on which to work and to produce enough food to survive and
provide nutrition for their children. This right has been robbed from them
by Tractebel with the support of the government of Fernando Henrique
Cardoso.
(Source: MAB web-site (Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens, May 30,
2002 and CIMI North, May 23, 2002)
URGENT ACTION REQUEST
What follows is a letter of request for support for victims of
government injustice. It comes from MAB, Movimento dos Atingidos por
Barragens - Movement of people affected by dams, who can be reached at
www.mabnacional.org.br.
The Manso Dam, built on the Manso River in the municipality of Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso State, by the state owned company Furnas
is linked to Eletrobras. The dam closed its floodgates on November
30, 1999, and flooded more than 44,000 hectares, thereby expelling more
than 1200 families from their land. Of these, only 340 families were
resettled, but on land useless for agricultural purposes. Although they
have been resettled for three years, they have been able to harvest
practically nothing because of the infertility of the land. Despite the outrageous
situation of the affected families, Furnas does not recognize these
people as injured parties.
MAB, the movement of those affected by dams, member group of Via
Campesina, makes this declaration concerning the situation of the
families that were camping in Cuiabá for seventy days. As there was no
solution presented to resolve their problem, on May 19 the families
occupied an area of 4000 hectares near the dam that belongs to Furnas. The land was
occupied in order to plant and harvest to meet the food needs of the families.
In addition to its failure to recognize the rights of the people that it
expelled with flooding, the company has begun judicial proceedings to
expel the families for a second time.
We request your support and solidarity in pressuring the federal
government, Furnas, the Minister of Mines and Energy and the state
government to resolve the lamentable situation of the families and
guarantee the renewal of negotiations.
This problem is being repeated all over the country. There are more
than a million people dislocated by these huge dam projects. And
despite all the dams, more than twenty million Brazilians lack
electricity in their homes. The dams serve the demands of the large
electricity intensive industries that consume most of the energy
produced, are government subsidized, generate few jobs and destine their
products for export, thereby indirectly exporting energy. Thirty percent
of Brazil´s external debt belongs to the electric sector.
For these reasons we request that you send faxes or e-mails to the
following addresses. In your correspondence, please emphasize the need
for the reopening of negotiations, and meetings between Furnas, the
Ministry of Mines and Energy and the expelled farmers and their
representatives. Insist that immediate action be taken to resettle the
farmers on productive land.
(Source: MAB web-site (Movement of Dam-Affected People,
May 29, 2002 and CIMI North, May 23, 2002)
Appreciatively,
Centro de Direitos Humanos Henrique Trindade - CDHHT
Movimento dos Pequenos Agricultores - MPA
Movimento dos Atingidos Por Barragens - MAB
Movimento dos trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra - MST
Comissão Pastoral da Terra - CPT
" WATERS FOR LIFE, NOT DEATH"
Presidência da República
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Palácio do Planalto
70150-900 Brasília - DF
Tel: (61) 411 1200 - Fax: 411 - 2222 - pr@planalto.gov.br
Ministério de Minas e Energia - MME
Francisco Gomidi
Esplanada dos Ministérios
Bloco "U" Sala 811
70065-900 - Brasília - DF
fone: (61) 319 - 5555 - 5041 - 5042
Fax: 2226 - 9692
FURNAS - Central Elétrica - Manso
Divisão de Liberação de Área de Manso - DLAM.T
Av. José Rodrigues do Prado 252
Santa Rosa - Cuiabá - MT
CEP - 78040 - 000
Telefax: (065) 626 - 2735
Governo do Estado de Mato Grosso
Rogério Sales
Palácio Paiaguás
78.050 -970 - Cuiabá - MT
Fone: (65) 613 - 4100 - gabgov@cepromat.com.br
Presidente da Assembléia Legislativa
Humberto Bosaipo
Palácio Filinto Müller - Praça Moreira Cabral
78020-901 - Cuiabá - MT
Fone: (65) 613 - 2551 - bosaipo@al.mt.gov.br
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