and Servico Brasileiro de Justica e Paz.

Number 84, June 17, 1993

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

- Indians in Rio Grande do Sul block road in protest.

Armed with bows and arrows, spears, sticks and rifles, almost

100 Caingangue Indians blocked the RS-324 highway, in the Nonoai

region of Rio Grande do Sul.

The Indians were protesting against the delay in the

demarcation of part of the Nonoai reservation, which is being

occupied by 300 white colonizers. The Caingangue chief, Jose

Nascimento, stated that the tribe was tired of waiting for the

authorities to fulfill their promises.

LAND QUESTIONS

- RURAL LEADER SHOT DEAD IN PERNAMBUCO

The president of the Rural Worker's Union of Belem de Maria

(in the sugar cane area of Pernambuco) was shot dead on June

15th.

Amancio Francisco Dias, 41, father of 10 children, was shot in

the face, when he answered a knock on the door of his house. Two

men called him saying that they had just been thrown off a sugar

plantation in the region.

According to the Church's Land Pastoral Commission (CPT),

Amancio was the seventh rural worker assassinated this year in

Pernambuco. He had been president of the rural union for just two

years, but was one of the most active union leaders in what's

called the "Zona da Mata".

Belem de Maria, with 11 thousand inhabitants, employs almost

4000 men and women in the sugar plantation industry. Amancio had

been putting pressure on the owners of the refineries, Usina

Catende and Destilaria Sao Luis, to pay up what they owed the

workers since the last harvest, which ended in February. The

Agricultural Workers Federation of Pernambuco (Fetape) said

Amancio Dias had been receiving death threats for the last two

weeks.

- MST worried about possible land conflict in Pontal do

Paranapanema.

The Movement for Landless Rural Workers (MST) are very

concerned that a serious conflict could soon break out between

landless families and military police.

Around 2000 families are camped in what the MST call a "truly

plastic city", (a reference to the plastic huts, in which the

families live), along the railroad, in the municipality of

Mirante do Paranapanema, in the southwestern part of the State of

Sao Paulo. They have planted crops in the Sao Bento Estate, an

unoccupied area, claimed by a man called Antonio Sandoval Neto.

Sandoval, considered by the families to be an illegal land-

grabber, appealed for repossession of the land and this was

granted by the local judge. However, the so-called owner also

requested permission from the courts to spray the poison "Tordon"

on the crops, before taking back the land, but this was denied.

Now Sandoval has asked for authorization and police protection

to use tractors to destroy the crops planted by the 2000

families.

The climate is very tense and there could be trouble at any

moment, since the land-grabber won't give up his claims and the

landless families intend to resist and continue planting.

- CPT calls for fair trial in Rio Maria.

The Rio Maria Committee and the Church's Rural Ministry

Commission, (CPT) have sent out an urgent appeal to all human

right and social entities to campaign for a just and vigorous

trial for those responsible for the death of the rural union

leader, Expedito Ribeiro.

Expedito, poet and president of the Rural Worker's Union of

Rio Maria, in Para, was brutally murdered on February 2nd, 1991.

Three men are accused of the crime: landowner, Jeronimo Alves de

Amorim, his manager and intermediary, Francisco de Assis Ferreira

and the gunman, Jose Serafim Sales. Ferreira and Sales are both

in custody, but Jeronimo Alves is at large, having spent some

time in jail.

The trial was to be held in Belem, Para, but the defendant's

lawyers succeeded in getting it moved to Rio Maria, where,

according to the Rural workers and the CPT, a verdict of guilty

will be more difficult to achieve because of the climate of fear,

due to threats.

The trial, set for June 30th, is regarded as being extremely

important, as it will be the first time that anyone, accused of

killing rural workers or union leaders, will go on trial in the

South of Para, one of the Brazil's most violent regions, in terms

of rural conflicts.

The appeal stresses the urgency of sending letters to the

judge and attorney of Rio Maria so as to give confidence to the

witnesses and jury members to take a stand against rural violence

and impunity, and therefore, reaffirm the struggle for agrarian

reform in Brazil.

The Rio Maria Committee suggest the following text:

"On June 30th, those accused of the murder of Expedito Ribeiro

de Souza, will be put on trial. This will be the first time, in

the South of Para, one of the most violent regions in Brazil,

that anyone, including a landowner, will be brought to trial for

the murder of rural peasant workers and union leaders. The

climate of fear and threats in Rio Maria has been brought to our

knowledge. We request that Your Excellency take all the necessary

measures to ensure that the trial be exemplary, so that an end

can be put to the impunity enjoyed by those who carry out and

order these crimes".

The letters should be addressed to:

Exmo. Sr. Juiz de Direito da Comarca de Rio Maria,

Dr. Francisco Chagas,

Forum de Rio Maria,

Cep 68530-000, Rio Maria,

Para, Brazil;

Exmo. Sr. Promotor de Justica,

Dr. Elder Ferreira da Costa (same address);

and copies to:

Padre Ricardo Rezende,

Casa Paroquial,

C.P. 07,

Cep 68530-000, Rio Maria,

Para, Brazil;

and Ambassador Rubens Recupero,

Brazilian Embassy,

3006 Massachusetts Ave.,

NW, Washington, D.C. 20008, USA.

- Appeal against impunity in Tocantins.

A letter of appeal, sent by the Bishop of Tocantinopolis,

Tocantins, d. Aloisio Hilario de Pinho, The Church's Pastoral

Commission for Land Questions (CPT), the "Padre Josimo"

Commission for Human Rights and Rural Workers Unions of the

Tocantins region, calls for the support of all organizations to demand

that the people responsible for the murder of Catholic priest,

Fr. Josimo Moraes Tavares, brutally killed on the 10 of May,

1986, be brought to trial.

Celebrating the seventh anniversary of his death, the church

of Tocantins, remembers Padre Josimo's commitment to the cause of

the rural peasant workers and expresses their sadness and

indignation in seeing that those who ordered his assassination

are still enjoying their liberty and acting as if they are

"untouchable".

"The case", says the letter, "is still lying on the shelves of

the Criminal Register's Office in Imperatriz, in Maranhao".

Although the author of the crime, gunman, Geraldo Rodrigues da

Costa, is at last in jail, after escaping three times, the

mentors of the crime, Guiomar Teodoro Filho, Nazere Teodoro da

Silva, Osvaldo Teodoro da Silva, Geraldo Paulo Vieira, Adilson

Vieira and Joao Teodoro da Silva, continue to be tranquil and not

in the least disturbed by the courts.

"This situation makes us indignant, not because we long for

vengeance, but because we still wish to believe that the search

for justice, in a law abiding land, is one of the pillars of

society", concludes the appeal. The letter suggests that the

following telegram be sent to:

Exmo. Sr. Juiz de Direito,

Dr. Franklin Magno Melo Veras,

Forum de Imperatriz,

Rua Rui Barbosa s/n,

Imperatriz,

Cep 65.900-000,

Maranhao;

Exmo. Sr. President do Tribunal de Justica do Estado de

Maranhao,

Dr. Jose Pires da Fonseca,

Tribunal da Justica,

Avenida Dom Pedro II s/n,

Sao Luiz,

Cep 65.000-000,

Maranhao;

and Exmo. Sr. Ministro da Justica,

Dr. Mauricio Correa,

Ministerio da Justica,

Esplanada dos Ministerios,

Brasilia,

Cep 77.000-000,

DF, Brazil.

Suggested text for telegrams or letters:

"Seven years after assassination pe. Josimo, City of

Imperatriz, Maranhao, mentors continue unpunished. We request

criminal process be put into action. Urgently. Sluggishness

contradicts justice".

- Slave labor in Parana Brazil

A court in Parana, in the south of Brazil, reduced the

sentence of Darci Frigo, from one year's detention to six months

and from a fine of 20 minimum salaries to 10. The reduction to

the minimum sentence means that Darci won't have to go to jail.

Darci was accused by landowner, Luciano Pizzatto, of slander

and defamation, for linking him with slave labor on the Guatambu

Estate in Parana.

The Church's Land Ministry Commission (CPT) recognized that

Darci's reduced sentence was only a partial victory but stressed

that this victory was due mainly to the innumerable letters of

solidarity from national and international entities, sent to the

courts on his behalf.

Nonetheless, the Commission is not happy with Brazilian

justice. It pointed out that the number of instances of slave

labor that occurred in Brazil over the last few years was

alarming and that even though many formal accusations were made,

not one of the cases reached the courts and much less, was anyone

held responsible.

The CPT state that the case of slave labor on the Guatambu

Estate was only re-opened because of the people's resistance in

the struggle for human dignity. Four farm managers from the CAPP

Florestal and the Compet Companies, are being accused of the

crime of slavery. However, say the CPT, "it's important that the

Justice Department also investigate the owners of these

companies, who are the real beneficiaries of this terrible crime,

that is an affront to the dignity of the rural workers and which

cannot be left unpunished".

HUMAN RIGHTS

- Ten children killed per month in Pernambuco.

Ninety nine children or adolescents were assassinated over the

last ten months in the State of Pernambuco, an average of ten per

month. The statistics were handed in officially to

Americas Watch, who are preparing a report on the deaths of

street children in Brazil.

The report will be sent to the Ministry for Justice. Of the 99

children killed, 85 had never been in trouble with the police or

been to a reformatory school and 30 were under the age of 11.

- Attorney says Military Police are participating in rural

murders.

The Assistant Attorney General of the Republic, Alvaro Ribeiro

da Costa, said this week in Brasilia, that of the 173 cases of

rural murders, being investigated by the Attorney's department,

in which gunmen were paid to commit the crime, 72 proved to have

the direct participation of military policemen, while 8 others

involved the civil police. Da Costa was giving evidence to a

public hearing of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry that is

investigating commissioned crimes.

The Attorney called for profound reforms in the Penal Code, to

help contain violence in the rural areas.

- Police in Alagoas: the arm of organized crime.

The Commission of the Justice Ministry that is investigating

the wave of violence running through the State of Alagoas, in

Northeast Brazil, concluded that the Military Police in that

State, "is the executive arm of organized crime there".

In 80% of the 600 murders studied, it was seen that 850

military policemen participated, directly or indirectly , in the

crimes. Only 120 were prosecuted and just 30 arrested, the

majority being liberated and incorporated into other functions

within the police force.

The report which is being concluded, will be given to the

Minister for Justice, Mauricio Correa, and passed on to Congress

as part of a request for federal intervention in the State.

According to Correa, president Itamar Franco wishes to "halt the

epidemic of human right violations and arbitrary violence", that

exists within the police forces of several States.

- Minister will try to divide the blame for human rights

violations.

The Brazilian government, is being numbered among the

villains, at the World Conference on Human Rights, in Viena,

because of its record of extermination of children and Indians,

slave-labor and child prostitution.

The Minister for Justice, Mauricio Correa, traveled to the

Conference to try and show that the rich countries must also bear

their share of the blame for the country's problems. The minister

takes with him a request from President Itamar Franco, that the

UN abandon its smug attitude of simply condemning human right

violations and begin to finance projects that defend the rights

of poor countries. "Our material difficulties are immense. We

don't have adequate prisons and at times we can't even send the

proper authorities into the conflict areas", said the Minister.

HEALTH IN BRAZIL

- US companies selling suspect medicine to Brazil.

Doctor and Federal Deputy with the Communist Party of Brazil,

Jandira Feghali, has asked the Brazil's Ministry for Foreign

Affairs to contact the United States Congress to obtain reliable

information on suspect sales of medicines (regarded as improper

in the States) but nonetheless, sold by American pharmaceutical

companies to Brazil, Kenya, Thailand and the Panama Republic.

In Washington recently, Senator Edward Kennedy and his

Democrat colleague, Henry Waxman, referred to studies made on the

subject by the Department for Industrial Taxes (DIT). Jandira

wants to know what laboratories are responsible for producing

these medicines and what measures the US government has taken to

prohibit what Senator Kennedy calls "the abuses committed by

industries" in this area.

On May 22nd, both the "O Globo" and "Jornal do

Brasil" newspapers revealed that the North American government's

DIT, at the request of some congressmen, carried out a study on

the sale of medicines. Over a period of seven years, a study was

made of the instructions that went with 241 drugs that are

exported to countries in the Third World, including Brazil, and

which carry some risk for the life and health of the user. The

results showed that two thirds of the instructions lacked

sufficient information that would orient patients about the

proper use of these drugs.

Jandira Feghali stated that the contraceptive pill, Norplant,

for example, carries no warning about the risks of heart attack

and that the box of anti-depressives, Demolox, says nothing about

taking the minimum dosage to avoid the danger of a very depressed

patient taking an overdose.

"The accusations of Senator Kennedy and Henry Waxman", affirms

Jandira, "are very serious and of special interest to Brazilian

consumers, whose lives are at risk because of the negligence of

the North American laboratories".

CHURCH QUESTIONS

- President Itamar promises to return diocesan radio station.

At the request of the president of the National Conference of

Bishops of Brazil, d. Luciano Mendes and the bishop of Duque de

Caxias, d. Mauro Morelli, President Itamar Franco indicated his

disposition to annul the decree which closed down the Catholic

Church's radio station in Sao Paulo.

The radio called "Nove de Julho", was shut down illegally by

the military, back in 1973. Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, Archbishop

of Sao Paulo, said he would only accept the re-opening of the

radio station, if it was restored to its full potential, that is

10 thousand watts.

During President Jose Sarney's government, the diocese entered

a petition with the Ministry for Justice requesting that the

radio be re-opened and given back to the Church, but the Minister

for communications at the time, Antonio Carlos Magalhaes,

proposed instead, two smaller radio stations, miles from Sao

Paulo, that wouldn't reach to whole of the Archdiocese. Dom Paulo

refused the offer.

Nove de Julho was founded in 1954 and given to the Church in

1955 and was run by the secular clergy until 1969, when the

Pauline Fathers took over its administration. When Dom Paulo was

appointed archbishop, he used to transmit his evangelical and

human rights message, "Meeting with the Pastor", every Saturday

and was heard on medium and short wave radio all over the State

of Sao Paulo, in most States and several Latin American

countries.

In 1973, two decrees by President General Emilio Garrastazu

canceled the radio's concession. The military authorities never explained the president's decision. At the time, d. Paulo

declared, "The Church of Sao Paulo is extremely hurt and

disappointed to see that some don't understand her work and

activity in favor of the poor and humble".

Even today, the archbishop is still hurt about the closing

down of the radio. In an interview to the 'O Sao Paulo' news

weekly, he declared: "It was deceitful, because they didn't even

give a reason. Others got their stations back, even though they

were purely commercial, even pornographic. And we, what did we

do, after all? We taught the people to be more fraternal".

- Death of Dom Patricio Hanrahan.

On May 25, the bishop of Conceicao do Araguaia, in Para, Dom

Patricio Jose Hanrahan died, after an intestinal attack followed

by blood circulation problems.

Dom Patricio, an Irish Redemptorist, was born in Dublin,

Ireland, and had worked in Brazil for 33 years. He was made

bishop of Conceicao, in 1979, a diocese situated in the country's

most conflictive region in terms of rural violence.

Bishop Hanrahan was noted for his tireless defense of the

rural workers of his diocese and up to his death, gave full

support to Fr. Ricardo Resende, of Rio Maria, who is first on the

list of those threatened with death in the South of Para. Dom

Patricio was also the first to raise his voice nationally to

denounce the murder of Fr. Joao Bosco, killed in an ambush while

returning from a pastoral visit, in the company of Dom Pedro

Casaldaliga, for whom the bullet was meant.

Dom Patricio's loss is felt deeply by all involved in the

struggle for agrarian reform and the fight for justice and peace

for the Brazilian people.

ECONOMIC ISSUES

- New economic plan is announced.

This week, the Minister for Finance, Fernando Henrique

Cardoso, announced his economic plan, called "Program for

Immediate Action" (PAI), to the nation. The plan to combat

inflation, at present running at 30% per month and the highest in

Latin America, promises no miracles and no tricks.

The principal points of the plan are:

1. A US$ 6 million cut in spending in the present 1993 budget,

affecting all the ministries and subject to congressional

approval;

2. War on tax evaders - The Treasury is going to investigate

30 thousand of Brazil's biggest companies and demand payments

from the 115 thousand people who didn't pay their taxes in 92;

3. Suspension of federal funds to the States and

municipalities, that owe US$ 40 billion to the Federal

government;

4. The State banks are to be monitored by the Treasury and

those that lend money to themselves, that is, to the State or

State companies, are to be prosecuted by law;

5. There's to be a tightening-up on the Federal banks too.

Unnecessary agencies are to be closed down and a better

definition found for the role of the Central Bank and the Bank of

Brazil;

6. The privatization of State companies is to be speeded up.

Those to be auctioned are to be transferred to the treasury to

facilitate the process. The government is to restart the

privatizations with the electricity and railroad sectors.

Most commentators believe that the plan's success depends

mainly on the politician's willingness to implement the proposed

cuts, but trade union leaders see no real effort to combat the

recession, re-distribute the country's wealth and especially no

reason to speed up privatizations, which to date, have been more

than suspect.

- Multinationals evading taxes.

States deputies, Jamil Murad and Denis Carvalho, have

requested a State inquiry to investigate accusations of tax

evasion by multinational companies working in the area of fuel

transport in the State of Sao Paulo. Already the request has the

support of 40 deputies.

The accusations made concern the transportation of fuel and

petroleum by-products, by the countries railroad companies and

involve the multinational groups Shell, Esso, Atlantic and

Texaco. According to preliminary information, these companies

have already cost the Sao Paulo State treasury something in the

region of US$ 30 million.

AIDS IN BRAZIL

- Most Children Born with HIV in Rio Come from "Stable"

Couples.

A study by the Graffee Guinle Hospital, the Aids referral

center in Rio de Janeiro, revealed that 62% of children born with

HIV have parents who considered themselves in stable, faithful

relationships. Dr. Carlos Alberto de Sa, coordinator of Aids

programs at the hospital, told the "Estado de Sao Paulo" on June

3 that these couples do not admit between themselves.the

possibility of infidelity and bisexuality, nor consider using

condoms. "The condom is the maximum proof of infidelity, which

is hidden at any cost," he said. "The ideal of absolute

fidelity, created thousands of years ago to preserve a

patriarchal society, is only serving to increase the spread of

Aids."

Since 1989, 30% of the men who have participated in a

confidential counseling service of Graffee Guinle admit to being

bisexual, and another 10% say they practice group sex. According

to Dr. Sa, "This explains the number of infected children coming

from stable couples." The number of HIV children will decrease

only when men stop hiding their sexual habits, and women confront

their husbands on this subject.

The World Health Organization predicts that by the year

2000, there will be 10 million Brazilians with HIV and 1 million

with Aids.

- Machismo and fear spread Aids virus among women.

The "Estado de Sao Paulo" on June 9 reported on the

research of epidemiologist Dr. Regina Loureiro of the State

Secretary of Health in Rio Grande do Sul. In that southern

state, 40% of women with HIV were infected by their husbands.

Dr. Loureiro discovered that in some marriages, the woman's

submissiveness to her husband, and her fear of demanding that her

husband use condoms,led to her being contaminated with the Aids

virus.

Dr. Loureiro distributed questionnaires to women who used

a free and confidential HIV testing service in the state capital

of Porto Alegre. With these results, and in listening to the

women, she has revealed another face of machismo in Brazil.

"Many women know they are risking their lives, but they

do not react because they were conditioned to be submissive,"said

the doctor. "This phenomenon is exacerbated among the lower

class, where women are constantly violated in their own homes."

One of the most evident signs of this violence, is the fact that

certain women take the HIV test a number of times. "They know

that sooner or later, the result will be positive."

In one example, a 36 year-old woman was beaten by her

husband when she decided, without his consent, to get tested for

HIV. The testing service workers discovered this when the woman

returned, with a black eye and a cut over her eyebrow, to get

the results of her test. Her reaction on learning of the

positive result of the test was, "How am I going to tell this to

my husband?"

The spread of Aids among women is challenging women to

overcome the difficulties in discussing fidelity and sexual

behavior with their husbands, Says Dr. Alvaro Matida, of the

State Secretary of Health in Rio de Janeiro, "In a macho society,

the control of Aids necessarily becomes a question sexual

politics."

MEDIA NEWS

- Governor Pressures Museum to Cancel Video Which

Criticizes Globo TV Network.

A showing of the video, "Brazil:Beyond Citizen Kane," at

the Sao Paulo state-sponsored Museum of Image and Sound (MIS) was

canceled on June 3. The documentary video, produced by Great

Britain's Channel 4, tells the story of the influential Globo TV

network and its owner, Roberto Marinho.

The official reason for the cancellation was that the

tape was damaged and that the public showing of a pirated film

violated copyright laws. But MIS video coordinator Geraldo

Anhaia Mello told the "Folha de Sao Paulo" that the reason was

actually political. "I participated in a meeting with the State

Secretary of Culture, Ricardo Ohtake, who told me and acting

museum director Flavio Martins to allege technical and legal

reasons for canceling the showing of the video. But the motive

was political. Governor Luiz Antonio Fleury Filho is a candidate

for President, and does not want to offend Roberto Marinho."

The suspension of the viewing provoked protests from about 50

person who had gone to MIS to see the video. (The museum had

already exhibited the video May 27) Anhaia told the "Folha" that

a friend in London had sent him a copy of the videotape. "MIS

can show the video because it is a public institution and does

not charge admission."

Anhaia said that Secretary Ohtake had told him that

Roberto Marinho had called Governor Fleury, asking that the tape

not be shown again at MIS. The "Folha" reported on June 9 that

Ohtake had removed Anhaia from his position from MIS, and that

Ohtake had written to Channel 4 asking for legal permission to

show the video.

Governor Fleury denied that he had been the one to decide

on prohibiting the showing of the video. In an editorial, the

"Folha" said that neither the state government nor the museum had

clarified the reasons for the suspension. It said that "the

suspension reinforces the main thesis of the video: that Roberto

Marinho, president of the biggest and most influential television

network in the country, has accumulated more powers than Citizen

Kane."

Meanwhile, trade unions, churcc groups, and the Brazilian

Lawyers Association are programming exhibitions of the video for

the public. "This video should be seen all over the country,"

said Ligia de Paula, president of an actors union in Sao Paulo.

The Workers Party plans to include the video in its national

meeting later this month.

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