Anti-Indigenous Agreement Forced Through In Brazil
4/20/98
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Anti-Indigenous Agreement Forced Through In Brazil
Source: CIMI
Status: Distribute freely with proper credit to source
Date: 4/20/98
ANTI-INDIGENOUS AGREEMENT SEALS COMMITMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT WITH ARACRUZ
CELULOSE S/A
During its 25 years of uncompromising support to the cause of Indigenous
Peoples, CIMI thought that it had already seen, mainly during military
dictatorship, all kinds of violence against these Peoples. This happens to
be a merely deception.
On the 18th of March 1998 the Brazilian Government unleashed a military
operation to put an end to the struggle of the Tupinikim and Guarani
Indians for the demarcation of their lands and to oblige them to accept the
impositions of the multinational Aracruz Celulose. The roads which give
access to the indigenous villages were occupied by a heavily armed federal
police force in order to impede that the Indians would continue to receive
support and solidarity in the self-demarcation of their lands. Trade union
leaders from CUT (Central Unico dos Trabalhadores - Central Workers Union)
were arrested, interrogated and treated like criminals for having shown
solidarity with the Indians. Representatives of the MST (Movimento dos
Trabalhadores Sem Terra - Movement of Workers without Land) were removed by
force from the village of Pau Brasil in the early morning and transported
in vehicles lent by Aracruz Celulose. The dutch missionary Winfried
Overbeek was arbitrarely arrested by the Federal Police and threathened to
be expelled from the country.
During the negotiation period in Brasilia, the Indigenous leaders of the
Executive Commission of the Tupinikim and Guarani were maintained isolated
and pressured to submit themselves to the decision of the Federal
Government to reduce their traditionally occupied lands to 2,571 ha
(decrees nr. 193 and 195/98 from the ex-Minister of Justice Iris Resende),
in convenience with Aracruz Celulose.
This conduct of the Government, which aimed to intimidate the Indians and
to stop them from fully demarcating their lands, was 'crowned' with an
outcome maybe even more spurious. On the 2nd of March the Tupinikim and
Guarani leaders signed an agreement called 'Term of Adjustment of Conduct'
(Termo de Ajustamento de Conduta), valid for a period of 20 years. In the
Term the Indians 'allow' to EXCHANGE THE LIMITS OF THEIR TRADITIONALLY
OCCUPIED LANDS FOR MONEY AND ASSISTANCE PROJECTS BEING PROVIDED BY ARACRUZ
CELULOSE. The Term was also signed by the President of FUNAI (Fundacao
Nacional do Indio - National Indian Foundation), Sulivan Silvestre
Oliveira, and by representatives of the Federal Public Prosecution Service
(which has as a constitutional duty to defend rights and interests of
Indigenous Peoples).
The presence of the federal police force was maintained until the 8th of
April in order to guarantee that the agreement signed in Brasilia would get
the approval of the indigenous communities. By means of the decree 268/98
of the President of FUNAI, the Indians are still forbidden to receive in
their own lands the organisations which support their struggle,
organisations of the civil society which for many years are giving them
support and are showing solidarity.
In the face of the seriousness of the exposed situation, CIMI comes to
declare that it:
1. considers the 'agreement' SCANDALOUS and IMMORAL. It was obtained by
means which offend seriously the fundamental rights and liberties
guaranteed in the Federal Constitution valid for any individual - including
the Indians - . Also, it is extremely harmful to the rights and interests
of the mentioned indigenous communities and to their physical and
socio-cultural integrity. Finally, it is flagrantly UNCONSTITUTIONAL by
violating Art. 231, par. 4, of the same Constitution which orders that
indigenous lands are 'NOT TRANSFERRABLE' and 'UNAVAILABLE', and therefore
NOT NEGOTIABLE.
2. rejects vehemently the role of the President of FUNAI in the whole
episode, since who has the legal duty to protect and make respect the
indigenous rights never could have assumed a supposedly impartial posture
and much less participated in the pressures on those whose rights he should
defend.
3. denounces the anti-indigenist policy of the Federal Government, which
prefers to hit the Constitution in its sacred rights which recognise the
demarcation of lands traditionally occupied by indigenous peoples,
benefitting the interests of a multinational company which invaded these
mentioned lands.
4. clamours, for the benefit of the public interest and a state which
respects democracy and civil rights, for the imediate repeal of the decrees
nrs. 253 and 268/98 which forbid the entrance of non-governmental
organizations in the indigenous lands Tupinikim and Guarani in Espirito
Santo.
5. elevates the gestures of solidarity that the Indians received from so
many parts of the land and from abroad, especially from the society of
Espirito Santo which always has been in favour of the Indians struggle. It
is worth emphasizing that the support and solidarity of the MST, CUT, the
Workers Party, human rights organizations and other organizations of the
state of Espirito Santo, obtained special importance during the
self-demarcation promoted by the Tupinikim and Guarani. At the same time,
CIMI rejects the usage of legislation to impede the fundamental right of
showing solidarity.
6. wants to show all its solidarity with the Tupinikim and Guarani
communities, victims of so much pressure, and reaffirms its uncompromising
support to their struggle for a real solution of the problem, that is to
say, the demarcation of the 13,579 ha, untransferrable and essential right
which no agreement can
undo.
Brasilia-DF, 20th of April 1998
CIMI