Number 74, April 15, 1993.

RACE QUESTIONS

BLACK COMMUNITY READY TO RESIST

Various movements against grassroots racial discrimination gave a press conference on April 7, at the headquarters of the Council for Development and Participation for the Black Community, in Sao Paulo. Eduardo de Oliveira, president of the Council, gave a list of the various acts of aggression, committed against the negro community, in Sao Paulo, within the last few months, with special attention to the murder of a fifteen-year-old black boy, Fabio dos Santos, who was llegedly beaten up and killed, on Monday night, April 5th, in Santo Andre, by a group of 30 youths, belonging to a gang called, "White Power".

Juerez, a representative from the Forum of Black entities, warned that if the authorities don't protect members of the black community, they will be to blame for any violent response practiced against the racists. The leader of the Jewish community, rabbi Henry Sobel, told AGEN that he was very worried about the extremist groups who have attacked blacks, Jews, people from the Northeast and homosexuals, and who could quickly become neo-nazis. "They are destroying not only minorities but the whole of society", he said.

An advisor at the Negro Institute, Dagoberto Fonseca, said that these groups always appear whenever there is an economic crisis. The informal market, absorbing those who can't find regular employment, is made up primarily of Negros and Northeasterners and the extremist groups tend to act where the black community is more conscientized and organized. The entities at the meeting agreed to seek immediate talks with Sao Paulo's State authorities and suggested that the traditional gathering on May 13 of Negros to mark Abolition Day, be used to hold the biggest ever concentration of Negros yet seen in the State.

LAND QUESTIONS

CPT DENOUNCE VIOLENCE IN ALAGOAS

- In a dossier published last week, in Goiania (Goias), the Church's Pastoral Commission for Land Questions (CPT) draws attention to the escalating violence against rural workers in the State of Alagoas. Based on statistics taken between 1987 and 1993, the commission points out that the northern region of Alagoas holds record numbers for atrocities and crimes against rural workers and also for the lack of punishment for those responsible for these crimes. In this region the violence is concentrated in the areas of Campestre, Xexeu, Novo Lino and Joaquim Gomes.

Almost every week, the bodies of workers are found dead and often burnt on the roadside of the BR/101 highway. Pastoral agents working in the area, including priests like Aldo Giazzon of the Sacred Heart Congregation and Luis Canal of the Assumption Fathers, as well as members of Basic Christian Communities and the CPT itself, are constantly receiving death-threats. Messages calling for an end to this systematic violence against church and rural workers in Alagoas should be sent to the following addresses:

Governador do Estado de Alagoas,

Geraldo Bulhoes,

Praca dos Martirios,

Maceio,

Alagoas, Brazil;

Procurador Geral da Justica no Estado de Alagoas,

Jose Jorge Tavares Doria,

Rua Ministro Salgado Filho, 60,

Farol, Maceio,

Alagoas, Brazil.

Letters supporting the struggle of the workers for Agrarian reform and an end to the violence can be sent to: CPT Team/ Mata Norte de Alagoas,

C/O d. Edvaldo Amaral, Archbishop of Maceio,

Caixa Postal 91,

Cep 57020-630,

Maceio, Alagoas, Brazil.

REPORT RELEASED ON LAND STRUGGLE IN ARAGUAIA-TOCANTINS REGION

In its annual report, the Church's Pastoral Commission for Land (CPT), Araguaia-Tocantins region, cited three cases which illustrate the hard reality of slave labor, beatings, and death in rural northern Brazil.

In April 1992, a labor contractor ("cat" in the local slang) named Paulo went looking for farm laborers in Lago da Pedra, Maranhao, to work at the Caicara Ranch in Agua Azul do Norte, Para, owned by a rancher known only as "Luis" After Paulo had an announcement made on the local church's loudspeaker, several workers, mostly young men, showed up. They were paid $20 thousand cruzeiros in advance, and traveled by truck to the ranch. When they arrived at the ranch, they were divided into groups. The price set for each area of land cleared was reduced by two-thirds. Food and other merchandise needed by the workers had to be bought at Paulo's store, at absurdly high prices. Some workers tried to leave the ranch, but were stopped. There were threats made and gunmen to watch over the workers. Two youths were able to leave the farm,but were not compensated for their labor.

The legal order to expropriate the Santa Fe-Alvorada Ranch in Arapoema, Tocantins, expired before INCRA (the federal Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform)issued the title papers for the land. After this, rancher Aecio Rubens Dias Pereira began to pressure those who had settled on the land. On September 11, 1992, one of the settlers, Valdivino, was seized by gunmen from the ranch and beaten. He was then taken by the gunmen and the rancher to the police station in Pau d'Arco, where the police delegate took no measures to help Valdivino. Terrorized, Valdivino wrote the following letter to the president of the Federation of Agricultural Workers in Tocantins State:

"I write these few lines to tell you what is happening to us workers. Gunmen met me on the road and with their car blocked my path. They aimed a revolver at me and roughed me up. They wanted to break my legs and put me in the trunk of the car. They took me to the police delegate's house in Pau d'Arco. They said that he had to kill me. I'm hurt very badly. They didn't kill me because I pleaded for my children who are sick, and said I needed to take care of them. They said that no one tells them what to do, and that there is no law for workers. The law is the bullet. One of the gunmen is known as "the devil". Look, I ask if it's at all possible that you come here as soon as you can. They're here and they say they're going to kill me. Signed, your friend, Valdivino."

In February 1992, land settler Raimundo Ferreira de Souza was killed in the village of Vila Uniao, in the city of Buriti do Tocantins. Afterwards, Antonio Gomes Pereira, who was with Raimundo, saw and recognized the killer, the gunman "Sebastiao", who works at the Varjao Ranch of Nazare Teodoro da Silva, who is charged with ordering the killing of Rev. Josimo Morais Tavares in 1986. Raimundo was one of the farmworkers who had settled on the land of Mutirao Ranch, before moving to another settlement.

Mutirao Ranch became an example of the state government's sluggishness and lack of will to resolve land issues. On March 20, 1989, in a meeting with the bishop of Tocantinopolis, the Justice and Peace Commission of Brasilia, and the Federation of Agriculture Workers of Tocantins State, then-Governor Siqueira Campos committed himself, in writing, to buy the land of Mutirao Ranch. This agreement was never fulfilled.

The CPT report condemns the negligence of federal, state, and municipal authorities. "The connection between ranchers and government is general knowledge-dragging out legal processes, facilitating evictions, preventing the opening of investigations. The violence practiced-farms destroyed, houses burned, beatings-give evidence to this connection."

PUBLIC PROTEST TO DEMAND JUSTICE FOR RURAL WORKER KILLED IN TOCANTINS

On April 15th, a public protest was held in Araguaina, Tocantins, to demand a full investigation into the assassination of Mozarniel Patricio Pessoa Filho and appealing that those responsible for the crime be brought to justice. Mozarniel was vice-president of the Rural Worker's Union in Araguaina and also president of the regional Directory of the Communist Party of Brazil (PC do B). Up to now, police investigations have made no headway. The protest was organized by the Unified Confederation of Workers of Brazil (CUT), political parties and rural unions of the region.

MOVEMENT OF RURAL LANDLESS WORKERS RELESES STATEMENT ON PARANA KILLINGS.

The following is the translated text recently relesed by the MST concerning the deaths of three policemen and the subsequent assassination of a rural worker by the police force in the State of Parana:

MOVEMENT OF THE RURAL LANDLESS WORKERS

NATIONAL SECRETARIAT

The True Situation of the Conflict in Parana.

Background

1. In October of 1991, almost 300 workers' families occupied the Santana ranch in the municipality of Campo Bonito. At this time an agreement was made between those who occupied the ranch, the Government of the State and INCRA.

2. According to the agreement, INCRA handed over on a permanent basis, 950 hectares of the area and agreed to find new areas within a determined time-span to settle all the families.

3. Two years passed and since INCRA did nothing, almost 150 families decided on March 3 to occupy the remainder of the ranch.

4. The Santana Ranch has a total of 6,000 hectares. It is totally unproductive since the alleged owner, Mr. Olivo Benedelli, uses the area only for timber extraction and even contracted a timber-merchant, Cassol, to extract the timber which still remains there.

5. Doubts exists if Mr. Olivo Benedelli has legal documents for the area because it is situated in a frontier region and INCRA never clarified to whom the area belongs.

Occupation

6. The occupation took place in a pacific manner at dawn on Wednesday March 3. In the morning, the chief of the civil police of Campo Bonito was in the campment. He received information and verified that the event had been pacific. He left without being hindered in any way.

7. That afternoon, Mr. Cassol, the timber merchant, arrived at the road-block at the entrance of the campment and asked permission to remove some equipment which he had being using for the extraction of timber. At this moment a car arrived (chevete model) with a yellow number plate of Pato Branco. There were three people in the car. They got out of the car and said only that they were friends of Rancher Benedelli. The rural workers who were at the road block started to search them since they refused to give their names. While an rural worker was searching one of the three, the person being searched reacted, immobilized the worker and pointed a gun at his head. A tense situation was created. The rural worker managed to shake off the aggressor who then fired a shot which did not hit the worker. From that moment on a generalized conflict involving the rural workers started. This resulted in the deaths of the three recently arrived persons and in the injury of the timber merchant.

8. After the deaths, the rural workers perceived through the arms and through the identification documents that those who died were police. One of the dead also carried large portions of marijuana and cocaine.

9. From then on a real war situation started. The command of the Military Police in Cascavel admitted that the police involved were following orders of the Commander and they began to call the rural workers bandits in the press. A real war operation started. They surrounded the entire area bringing in various battalions of the military police as well as the Group of Special Operations (Grupo de Operacao Especial) of the military police.

10. While all this was happening, some journalists connected with the UDR and linked to radio and TV Taroba encouraged the population to lynch the landless rural workers.

11. On Thursday, with the presence of a lawyer, of the leadership of various entities and of the Movement of the Rural Landless Workers (MST) an agreement was made in which the police would not use violence. Those in the campment gave evidence since the military police wanted to know who was at the road-block.

12. The agreement was broken when the judge of Guaraniacu decided to decree the imprisonment of all the adults in the campment. This only was possible because the superintendent of INCRA went and gave to the judge a list of all those whom INCRA had registered. Afterwards, satisfied with this "collaboration" he went to commemorate in the local town hall with the lawyer of the UDR of the region.

13. With the judge's order, all the adults were taken to the town. However, a few hours earlier, one of the rural workers, Lourival, who had been at the road-block, gave himself up to the police. Lourival was taken to Cascavel, brutally tortured and later taken to the campment in order to identify the others. It was in this way that the military police imprisoned a further 10. Of the rural workers who were taken to give evidence in the church hall, only 40 were heard so that the military police could show the "legality" of the event. At the same time, the 11 prisoners were taken to an unknown place and were tortured to confess the "crime". Under torture they confessed publicly that they had taken part in the event and gave the name of another rural worker known as "Teixeirinha" as one of the leaders of the campment.

14. The police continued their terror in the campment saying that they were hunting "Teixeirinha". One of the chief of police said clearly that if he wished to give himself up nobody should accompany him since this would involve a risk to life.

15. "Teixeirinha" continued in the campment and his wife gave notice that he intended to give himself up after the press had given coverage that the police were "hunting' him.

16. On March 8, at approximately 11.00 AM, a group of police went to the area and after having shamelessly tortured a rural worker, a neighbor of "Teixeirinha", in front of the latter's' wife and children, his wife told the police that "Teixeirinha" was hidden nearby. Immediately they surrounded the area and without a chance of defending himself or giving himself up, he was brutally assassinated with several bullets.

17. At this point in time, 7 rural workers are imprisoned in the prison of Cascavel. And the military police are saying that they want another 7.

19. The climate in the locality is very tense. It is a real battle field where the police are engendering fear and persecuting all who appear to be rural workers.

20. At the requiem mass for "Teixeirinha" an act of solidarity with the families will be made as well as an act of repudiation of the violence of the police who were determined to produce a "Parana Carandiru".

21. The MST launched a public statement placing responsibility on the Federal Government and especially on the superintendent of INCRA as those chiefly responsible for the conflict and blaming the police forces for this act of revenge, which does not resolve but rather aggravates the situation.

22. The Government of the State has not taken the necessary steps to control the local police.

23. In the light of these facts, it is important that entities and worker's organization manifest themselves by sending messages of protest and by demanding of the Governor of the State, Dr. Roberto Requiao:

- The end of repression against the rural landless workers.

- Guarantee of life for all in the campments and for their leaders.

- The immediate dismissal of the superintendent of INCRA, Dr. Carlito Pedrozo, who was appointed during the Collor government and is linked to the ranchers.

- A solution for the Santana ranch and the other 37 areas of conflict in the State of Parana which are in a similar situation.

Messages should be sent to:

Exmo. Sr.

Dr. Roberto Requiao,

MD. Governador do Estado do Parana.

Fax (041) 254 7345.

Sao Paulo, March 9, 1993

MOVEMENT OF THE LANDLESS RURAL WORKERS

STATE SECRETARIAT OF PARANA

The summary execution of Teixeirinha: Diniz Bento da Silva

Rural worker, Diniz Bento da Silva, at various moments manifested a desire to give himself up to the police.

But the police created a circle, following orders of the Governor, to hunt the Landless Rural Workers. And on several occasions it was heard that they were seeking to take their revenge on Teixeirinha. In his attempts to give himself up, the police did not guarantee security and requested that nobody should accompany them.

Teixeirinha remained in his own area during all of this period. He never fled since he wished to give himself up.

Determined to carry out a real hunt, the Group of Special Operations (Grupo de Operacoes Especiais -GOE) of the Military Police, hooded and strongly armed invaded the campment. They burned the tents of various families and destroyed all their belongings.

The wife of Teixeirinha, her neighbors, her 13 year old son and other neighboring children were submitted to the following cruel practices of torture: after having being blind-folded, hanging, beating, death threat and blows.

After several hours of this process of torture, at approximately 6.00 P.M., the police gave this ultimatum to the son "You will tell us where your father is, or we will kill you".

Since Teixeirinha was near his house and could hear this threat, he gave himself up unarmed, he took off his shirt and held his hands high.

The hooded police hand-cuffed him and they took him through the campment, beating him and humiliating him publicly. Afterwards they took him into a wooded area.

Following some hours of torture, a number of shots were heard. The summary execution of Teixeirinha had been carried out.

The families in the campment and his own family were informed of his death only on the morning of March 9.

The military police, under the orders of the Governor of the State, carried out this operation. But the hunt of the Landless Rural Workers goes on without mercy, vengeance being the motive.

For the brave Teixeirinha, the Government of the State, instituted the death penalty.

MOVEMENT OF THE RURAL LANDLESS WORKERS OF THE STATE OF PARANA

HUMAN RIGHTS

BOOK TELLS STORY OF MASSACRE

"History of a Massacre - House of Detention, Sao Paulo", is the name of a book published on April 15 and written by the lawyers, Marcelo Lavenere Machado, former president of the Federal Council of the Lawyers Association of Brazil (OAB) and Joao Benedito de Azevedo Marques, former Secretary of Sao Paulo's Justice Department. The book was released by the OAB and the Cortez publishing company. Marcelo and Joao Benedito were both members of the Special Commission set up by the Minister of Justice, Mauricio Correa, to conduct a impartial and parallel investigation into the massacre of 111 prisoners (official figures), that occurred on October 2nd, 1992, in the Carandiru Prison in Sao Paulo. The authors heard witnesses from both sides and concluded that the killings were the result of a premeditated massacre.

PRISONERS IN MANAUS DENOUNCE POLICE VIOLENCE

In Manaus, representatives of the National Movement for Human Rights and the Lawyers Association of Brazil, received a letter accusing police and prison officers of ill-treating and beating up prisoners at the State's Central Prison, Desembargador Raimundo Vidal Pessoa, Manaus.

The letter written by the prisoners says that there are 208 prisoners (including mentally deficient prisoners), cooped up in 52 small cells at the prison and that they are allowed out into the yard for only one hour every second day.

"This isn't a Siberian Gulag", says the letter and goes on to describe how during a recent visit to the prison by the GATE (elite troop of the police) many prisoners were severely beaten. "The GATE squad went from cell to cell", say the prisoners, "dragging out the occupants and giving them a severe beating using batons, and the butts of pistols, revolvers and rifles. Those who fell to the ground were kicked in the face and mouth. It was simply terrifying.

Having enjoyed the spectacle of screams and blood, the GATE police locked the prisoners up again and began throwing dud bombs and tear gas into the cells. The effect was devastating. The prisoners were gripping the bars, shouting for help, and when hit by the gas, they fainted".

The prisoners also state, "This is inhuman, the result of the bloodshed is 208 prisoners totally nerve-racked". They also say "Sure, we're in jail and we have to pay for what we did to society, but this doesn't mean we should be treated like animals. Since the penitential system is supposed to recuperate the prisoner, acting this way, the authorities will only succeed in making him more anti-social". The letter concludes by warning that if steps are not taken soon, there is a real danger of a rebellion breaking out in the prison. Letters denouncing the situation in the Prison in Manaus should be sent to:

Governador de Amazonas, Gilberto Mestrinho,

Palacio do Governador,

Manaus, AM

Brazil.

CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND DEFINITION FROM PRESIDENT ON MISSING PRISONERS

A national mailing campaign will begin next week to demand that president Itamar Franco define immediate steps on the question of the political prisoners that disappeared during the military dictatorship. According to the Minister for Justice, Mauricio Correa, the president already has a first draft of a project to be sent to the National Congress, officially recognizing the disappearances and proposing payment of compensation money to the families involved.

Entities of the families of the missing want the president to hear their point of view, before sending the project to Congress. Up to now, Itamar has seemed really reluctant to talk about this delicate issue, because of fears of the military's reaction. Meanwhile, the Commission for the families of the Missing Political Prisoners of Sao Paulo had their first meeting with Marta Martins do Carmo Donato, a lawyer recently appointed by mayor, Paulo Maluf, to help with the question of the bones found over two years ago in a common grave in the cemetery of Perus. The families want the city administration to continue their financial aid, so that the University of Campinas can conclude their investigation into the identity of the 1046 skeletons found in Perus.

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST PROSECUTED IN MINAS GERAIS

One of the best known names in Brazil's struggle for civil liberties, 76-year-old, Helena Grecco, from Belo Horizonte, is being prosecuted for calumny by Vera Lucia Junqueira, a doctor whose name appears on the list of doctors accused of abetting the political repression and killings during the military dictatorship. Vera Lucia is just one of 112 doctors (66 in Sao Paulo, 44 in Rio and 12 in Minas Gerais), accused by human rights entities of signing false death certificates on people killed under torture by the police. Yesterday a public act of solidarity with Helena Grecco, was held outside the Journalists Trade Union center, in Belo Horizonte.

LAWYERS WALK IN ON TORTURE SESSION IN FORTALEZA -

On April 12th, Joao Alfredo Teles, president of the Lawyers Association of Brazil (OAB), for the State of Ceara, Mario Mamede and Paulo Mindelo, of the Worker's Party, walked in on a torture session that 3 policemen were conducting in a police station in Fortaleza, Ceara. They had received an anonymous phone call, denouncing the tortures. When they got to the police station, the 3 policemen were in a cell with 27-year old Antonio Ferreira Braga, a bricklayer, accused of stealing a TV set and some cooking gas cylinders. Antonio was lying on the ground, handcuffed and tied up in a piece of carpet. He had been subjected to various types of torture, including having his head stuck into a plastic bag of water.

CHURCHES

CHURCHES CRITICIZE REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN

On April 12th, the Brazilian section of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), published a manifesto, repudiating the "moral recession" that continues to pervade Brazilian politics and the way in which the political parties and mass media are deliberately manipulating and distorting the referendum debate on the system and form of government to be adopted in Brazil and which will be decided on April 21st.

The manifesto states: "The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 decided that through a referendum, to be held on September 7th, 1993, the people of the Federal Republic of Brazil would choose the system (Monarchy or Republic) and form (parliamentary or presidential) of government they wished to adopt. The use of this democratic method is of extreme importance for the exercise of mature citizenship and in complete harmony with the most modern concepts of democracy. Nonetheless, CLAI, through its regional secretariat in Brazil, wishes, after meditating on its prophetic and ecumenical role, to express its concern at a moment of such importance for the future of the Brazilian Nation". The council goes on to say that it has been meditating on other questions which it considers relevant to the socio-political and economic situation in Brazil, summed up in the words of Bishop Pedro Casaldaliga, when he states that "Brazil is going not only through an economic recession but also through a recession in terms of justice".

"We would add a moral-political recession too", says the CLAI document. "In trying to fulfill its role by cultivating ecumenical life, the struggle for justice and human rights, including the right to choose freely, CLAI, with respect to the referendum to be held shortly, joins other Christian churches, ecumenical organizations, human rights entities and grassroots movements, to express the following points.

1. We protest, categorically, against the untimely and inadequate debate on the referendum, which was anticipated, and which occurs at this moment in history when the whole Brazilian Nation should be seeking profound changes and satisfactory solutions to the recession and addressing itself to the question of the poverty that afflicts 32 million Brazilians.

2. We repudiate the form in which the political parties and the mass media are using the referendum, to manipulate public opinion, by distorting information, and creating confusion and apathy among the people on the question of the form and system of government, to be decided on April 21st.

3. With this feeling of moral dissatisfaction and even though there is very little time, we see our communities and the other organized groups in society, sincerely and with dignity, searching for a more just, fraternal and free nation, as they reflect, critically, on the situation, and pray for God's guidance to influence our vote. We would like to recommend for further reflection and debate the text prepared by ISER - the Institute for Religious Studies - "Vannuchi, Paulo & Betto, frei - Plebiscite for 1993 - Monarchy or Republic ? Parliamentary or Presidential System ?".

4. Finally we recommend that our communities remain alert and demand from the authorities and political parties, no matter what the outcome of the referendum, an attitude of commitment to institutional and legal reforms, which guarantee the right to life, full citizenship and complete democracy for the Brazilian Nation. At the service of the Kingdom of God to create a fraternal and caring society, we walk in the light of Christ's Gospel message, a message that makes us new with a living hope".

CONIC PROPOSES GOVERNMENT MEASURES TO DEMOCRATIZE COMMUNICATION

Members of the National Council of Christian Churches in Brazil (CONIC) will make a formal proposal to the Minister of Justice, Mauricio Correa, in an audience set for May 31st, urging that the federal government adopt measures to ensure that the information and communication system in Brazil, be made more democratic. Also, by April 20th, on the request of the Minister, the Council will present suggestions concerning the present role and composition of the Superior Council for the Defense of Freedom of Expression (Codelibex). For the secretary of the Conic's directory, Pastor Muberto Kircheim, of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB), "the minister's willingness to open up space for the various sectors of society and create a forum of dialogue, is very important". He added in an interview to AGEN's collaborator in Rio Grande do Sul, Edelberto Behs, journalist, that the Christian Churches are very concerned about the question of ethics in the media, even though, this area was only the "tip of the iceberg, since in a society as problematic as Brazil's, the media is only a reflection of the overwhelming impunity and disrespect for laws, that exists here". Kircheim also called for the updating of the present criminal code, which dates from 1948, that "imprisons petty thieves and leaves white collar criminals scot-free". The president of CONIC, Bishop Sinesio Bohn and Kircheim met with the the minister, in Brasilia, on March 30th. Other groups present at the meeting were the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), the Evangelical Association of Brazil (AEvB), the Lawyers Association of Brazil (OAB), the Brazilian Press Association (ABI), ABERT, the Parents and Teachers Association, as well as the Artists Trade Union of Rio and the Scenic Arts Union of Brasilia.

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