NEWS FROM BRAZIL
supplied by Brazil Justice Net
Number 591, June 11, 2008
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In this week's News from Brazil:
Police destroy MST encampment in Rio Grande do Sul
A Military Brigade, under orders from sub-commander Paul Mendes, on Tuesday, June 3rd destroyed a new encampment organized by MST along the side of Rio Grande do Sul state highway 40, in Viamão.
The area was given to the families and to MST. Without judicial mandate, a force of more than a hundred military police and a battalion of elite troops destroyed the tents that were being constructed by the families.
At this time, the landless are separated and divided in groups of men and women. Also, they are being identified and investigated by the police. The encampment was being constructed by families that are working temporarily in the rice harvest in the region of Viamão.
In protest to this cruel act of the Military Brigade, 200 landless people are occupying Brazilian highway 386 close to Nova Santa Rita. More protests are planned.
The MST repudiates the action of the Military Brigade. Rarely in the history of southern Brazil have the police and the state colluded to destroy an encampment still in formation. Not only does the state government not resolve the problems of the landless people and farmers, but Governor Yeda Crusius represses the social movements and the poor families that claim their rights.
Source: MST website (www.mst.org.br), June 3, 2008
Rise in health problems for indigenous peoples
The recent occupations of public buildings propagated by indigenous are reactions to the ineffectiveness of public policies, especially in the area of health. This is the opinion of the Indigenous Missionary Council (Conselho Indigenista Missionário – CIMI). Last week, the headquarters of the National Health Foundation [a.k.a. FUNASA] in Cuiabá [in the central-western state of Mato Grosso] and Ubatuba, on the north side of São Paulo, were occupied. The Ministry of Health was the target of protests in April.
According to the vice-president of the entity, Roberto Liebgott, the indigenous peoples have gained much in the discussion, demands and proposals for public policies. And the indigenous organization, according to Liebgott, [works] mostly in the area of health because these are many of the problems facing their communities.
“The government transferred its responsibility to third parties – NGO’s, other indigenous organizations and to cities, giving away its own responsibility. With outsourcing, the indigenous peoples do not have a point of contact from which to demand [benefits]. Or, since the responsibility is diluted, so the assistance is also diluted. For this reason we are seeing serious problems in almost all regions of Brazil.”
Liebgott related that the third parties complain of the delay of transfer from FUNASA and attribute the delay to the lack of development for its strategic plan. In response FUNASA alleges that it has revised its overall direction, and that the third parties have not been effective in the rendering of services.
In the south and the central west of Brazil, especially in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, the main consequence from the negligence in health is malnutrition, according to CIMI. The Amazon area highlights the spreading of epidemics that already have been controlled, such as malaria, tuberculosis and hepatitis A, B, and C.
Source: Indigenous Council of Roraima website (www.cir.org.br), June 4, 2008
Ten thousand, five hundred Indians are isolated in Raposa Serra do Sol
The Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) estimates that 10,500 Indians may be isolated in the indigenous land Raposa Serra do Sol [in the northern state of Roraima (RR)], since the rice farmers burned the bridges over the small rivers of Araçá and Araujinho. Since then it has become impossible to pass the river bed of both due to the increase of rains in the regions that caused the two waterways to overflow.
According to the accusation of the indigenous leader Jacir José de Souza, former coordinator of CIR and resident of the Maturuca community, the force of water took away the makeshift route over gravel that the state government made by the side of the riverbed. “They made an alternate path, they put down planks that still made it possible to get by, but now the water took everything,” he said.
The Indigenous Council is preoccupied with the emergency response to the health of the communities; already the highway is blocked slowing the removal of patients in serious condition to the Indian Hospital, in Boa Vista.
“Even today, teams of the FUNASA [National Health Foundation – Fundação Nacional de Saúde] that are going to a meeting about health in Surumu have been turned back. It is a crime that the rice farmers committed. Our parents can die because the ambulance cannot pass after the bridge was burned down and the river flooded,” Jacir complained
Getting to the region of Surumu is only possible by plane, or by taking the route by raft on the Passarão, that is controlled by rice farmers, which adds up to a distance of approximately 80 kilometers. Another possibility is through the city of Normandia, which can delay the trip by another day.
The supply of school meals is also compromised. At noon on June 3rd, according to motorist Eliésio Peres Ribeiro, ten cars and a bus have been returned from the little river of the Araçá.
Whoever tries to pass using some pieces of wood run a great risk. I saw a doctor, along with a nurse, have very hard time crossing the little river.
Jacir de Souza adds that he asked “the federal authorities for a solution to the problem, beyond the punishment of the ‘terrorists’ that set fire to the bridge.” According to him, the work of the Federal Police, responsible for maintaining the security in the Raposa Serra do Sol is impaired because of the destruction of the bridges.
Source: Indigenous Council of Roraima website (www.cir.org.br), June 4, 2008
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