Pro-Yanomani Commission Update 9596
12/10/97
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Headline: Pro-Yanomani Commission Update 9596
Source: Pro-Yanomami Commission (CCPY)
ccpy@uol.com.br
Date: 12/10/97
GOLDMINERS EXPELLED FROM YANOMAMI RESERVE
In November the Brazilian government finally launched the long awaited
operation to expel thousands of "garimpeiros" who have illegally invaded
the Yanomami reserve since 1996, when official surveillance was
abandoned for lack of funds.
Undisturbed by the authorities, the garimpeiros have brought disease,
violence and environmental destruction to many Yanomami villages.
Sullivan Silvestre, the recently appointed FUNAI president, went to
Roraima on November 6th to kick off the "surprise" operation, promised
for over a year. Local reports said nearly 400 personnel from FUNAI, the
Federal Police, the Army and the Air Force, IBAMA (the official
environmental agency), the Foreign Ministry and the Public Prosecutors
Office are involved.
By November 24th 418 garimpeiros had left the Yanomami reserve: many
abandoned their camps before the police arrived, others gave themselves
up. Over 250 were detained and airlifted in groups of 30 to Boa Vista,
where they were briefly held in the state prison: if they had any gold,
it was confiscated and they were, charged with illegal mining in
indigenous lands, ordered to pay fines for environmental damage and then
released, to make way for the next group.
One clandestine runway in the forest was dynamited and up to 30 others
were blocked with treetrunks to stop planes landing.
The police confiscated mining machinery to be used as proof in their
inquiries. The local press reported that machinery, vehicles, planes and
gold confiscated from the garimpeiros will be auctioned and the money
given to the environmental authorities to recuperate damaged areas.
Silvestre said that besides the garimpeiros, the suppliers, pilots and
the companies who finance them will be identified. The Federal Police
are also investigating planes and clandestine runways around Boa Vista.
RADIO PROGRAMME OFF THE AIR
On November 14th a judge ordered Radio Roraima to suspend the long
running programme "Messenger of the Airwaves", because it was
transmitting warnings about the police operation to the garimpeiros
"which could frustrate Operation Yanomami".
The radio was given the choice of not broadcasting the programme while
the operation lasted, or promising not to say anything about it.
The Foreign Ministry was reported to have asked the Venezuelan
authorities to arrest Brazilian goldminers who try to flee across the
border, but so far there is no confirmation that this is happening.
"Operation Yanomami" will last two months. Paulo Roberto de Azevedo
Junior, FUNAI coordinator of the operation, said this is long enough to
remove the estimated 800 to 1000 garimpeiros he estimates are in the
area, although other sources put the number at 3000.
"As long as there are garimpeiros inside the Yanomami reserve we'll hunt
them down and expel them", said Federal Police officer Antonio Lopes.
He said that after all the garimpeiros have been expelled, further
stages of the operation will include control on planes and fuel.
Originally President Cardoso authorised US$6 million for the removal of
the garimpeiros. So far up to two million dollars has been spent on
"Operation Yanomami.
PROTEST AT ARREST OF GOLDMINERS
The arrest and detention of scores of garimpeiros aroused protests in
Boa Vista, where 80 percent have families. Although they were given
medical and dental treatment while in prison, local politicians
complained that the "poor, defenceless goldminers" were being treated
like animals.
While many garimpeiros are indeed poor men trying to make a living in a
region that offers few job opportunities, among them could be some of
the 18 men found guilty of the 1993 Haximu massacre when 17 Yanomami
were killed, and who have never been captured. Violent incidents are
common in the mining camps, where alcohol runs freely and most people
are armed. Recently in the Catrimani area three garimpeiros were shot
and stabbed to death by a colleague, apparently because of a row over
land claims.
"FOR THE ENGLISH TO SEE"
This is the fourth operation to expel garimpeiros from the Yanomami
reserve since President Collor launched Operation Selva Livre in 1990.
For more than a year the CCPY, other organisations and the Yanomami
themselves have been campaigning and appealing for the expulsion of the
garimpeiros.
A CCPY request that Yanomami leaders should be consulted about the
operation in their area was ignored.
Instead, the timing of Operation Yanomami, on the eve of President
Cardoso's state visit to the U.K. in December, was interpreted by the
local press as a sop to international public opinion, literally "para
ingles ver". National newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo commented: "the
operation, .... will be the president's answer to the (British) NGOs who
have been demanding that the government pay more attention to the
indians".
MINING BILL CONTINUES ITS WAY THROUGH CONGRESS
A controversial bill designed to open up mining in indian reserves has
still to be approved by congress, but its mere existence was used by
garimpeiros in Roraima to justify their invasion of the Yanomami
reserve.
The bill, presented by ex-Funai president, now senator, Romero Juca, is
championed by Roraima deputy Elton Rohnelt. Rohnelt is a former
garimpeiro pilot who set up his mining company and became a rich man in
Roraima. Elected to congress in 1994 as a federal deputy for the
rightwing PFL (Liberal Front) which supports President Cardoso, he is
one of the government's leaders.
Trying to get the bill on the fast track as "extremely urgent" he said
"The government is very interested in getting this bill approved" and
claimed that Cardoso himself had guaranteed him that he would not veto
any part of it.
The approval of the bill could unleash an avalanche of claims: there are
at least 30,000 claims for mining in indigenous areas already filed with
the DNPM (National Department for Mining Research)
Originally, as part of the proposed Indian Statute, government agencies,
mining companies and NGOs representing the indians had drawn up an
agreement on the issue. But Senator Juca's bill modified the points
which favoured the indians, while maintaining concessions to the
companies.
Rohnelt's efforts to speed up the passage of the bill have so far failed
and it is not clear whether it will be approved this year.
For Geroncio Rocha, a leader of CONAGE (National Coordination of
Geologists) the defenders of mining in indigenous lands have always
resorted to a variety of slogans, like "regional development, national
security, national interest" to justify it.
Pro-indigenous rights organisations propose 1) mining in indian lands
only in exceptional cases 2) all irregular claims filed at the DNPM to
be cancelled 3) that eventual mining requests be submitted to congress
and treated case by case.
BRITISH MINISTER VISITS CCPY
On September 21st Tony Lloyd, Minister of State for the UK's Foreign and
Commonwealth Office visited the CCPY office in Sao Paulo for a meeting
with Claudia Andujar, Laymert Garcia and members of staff. The Minister,
who was accompanied by the British Ambassador to Brazil and the Sao
Paulo Consul-General, had specially requested the visit to find out more
about the situation of the Yanomami and the work of the CCPY.
In a letter sent later from London Mr Lloyd said "The British Government
has great sympathy for the aims and objectives of the work you are
doing. .........Please rest assured that the British government would view
with concern any threat to the traditional way of life which the
Yanomami wish to preserve, and will take every opportunity of
encouraging the Brazilian and Venezuelan Governments to fulfill their
promises to protect the environment in which the Yanomami live from the
threat of unlicensed and uncontrolled gold-mining."
BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT'S VISIT TO UK
It is not known whether the British Government will raise the situation
of Brazil's indigenous population during President Cardoso's state visit
to the UK at the beginning of December, but organisations like Survival
International and Amnesty International will meet Jose Gregori, the
National Secretary for Human Rights to express their concern about the
Yanomami and the Makuxi and other groups threatened by mining, logging
and ranching.
FUNAI'S NEW PRESIDENT
The new head of FUNAI is a 35 year old public prosecutor with no
previous experience of indigenous affairs. Sullivan Silvestre comes
from the state of Goias, like the man who chose him, Justice Minister
Iris Resende. Resende succeeded Nelson Jobim, who left to become a
Supreme Court judge and Silvestre succeeds Julio Gaiger, who resigned at
the end of July.
Silvestre faces the same dramatic lack of funds as his predecessors,
because Funai's budget for 1998 has been cut by a third as part of the
government's austerity programme.
AMAZON MEGAPROJECTS: INDIANS WANT A SAY
At the end of August 80 leaders of indigenous organisations in Brazil,
Guyana and Venezuela met in the Roraima capital, Boa Vista, to discuss
the many infrastructure megaprojects planned for the region.
Governments of all three countries plan paved roads, industrial
waterways, oil pipelines and powerlines to encourage export corridors,
trade, agribusiness and mining in the region.
The proposed projects simply ignore the existence of 35,000 indians from
a dozen different groups who inhabit the forests and savannah of the
frontiers where the three countries meet and where mining and logging
have already had disastrous effects. The region contains the headwaters
of three of the largest river basins in South America - the Amazon, the
Orinoco, the Essequibo.
YANOMAMIS MEET FIRST TIME
It was the first time that Yanomami leaders from Brazil and Venezuela
had met together to discuss their mutual problems, especially the
question of the Brazilian garimpeiros who cross the border and spread
malaria inside Venezuela.
They issued a statement saying:
"We the Yanomami of 4 communities in the basin of the Catrimani and
Ananaliwa rivers in Brazil and the Mawaca community in Venezuela, do not
want garimpeiros working in our lands. The extraction of gold harms our
health and brings disease and death. Up until May this year at least
1300 Yanomami had had malaria.
We do not want the Orinoco-Casiquiare-Rio Negro waterway, which the
governments of Brazil and Venezuela are discussing, to be built before
we understand what it means and without previous consultation of the
Yanomami populations and studies on environmental and social impact. We
must know what it is about and what dangers the project might bring for
us, the Yanomami.
Development projects without consultation, without control, without
impact studies must not happen. They are dangerous for us and for the
environment.
We know that politicians, government agents and companies will promise
the Yanomami merchandise, even money if we accept the developmnet
projects.
We Yanomami will not accept beautiful words. First we want to
understand what it is about.
We are not against progress, but progress for us means getting prepared
and learning Portuguese, learning citizenship, before any economic
development project.
We Yanomami do not yet know how to negotiate. Many Yanomami do not yet
know how to speak Portuguese or how to count properly. We do not want
to be cheated by politicians, businessmen and the governments of Roraima
and Amazonas. We want to preserve our language, our traditions,
culture, our right to demarcated land. We want time to learn how to
understand and talk with the world of white politicians. We want to
learn the way whites think, which is different from our way, before
there are any negotiations.
We want our Yanomami relatives who are still unaware of the danger of
white laws to be consulted only in the presence of leaders who have a
good understanding of Portuguese and the way whites think. It is our
right to demand this.
The earth has no price. There is no money that can pay for our lives".
NO "EMPTY SPACES" IN THE AMAZON
The meeting ended with a demand that indigenous territories should no
longer be considered "empty spaces" which need to be occupied and
exploited. The indigenous leaders called instead for their complete
demarcation, free from invaders and other forms of occupation and
pressure.
They also demanded a ban on building new military bases inside
indigenous areas, free transit in frontier areas for local indigenous
populations, and government support for indigenous education, health,
radio, transport and economic projects.
They also want the right to decide about the use of natural renewable
and non-renewable resources in their own territories.
Until these demands are met they want international funding for large
scale projects suspended.
MINING MORATORIUM
The indigenous leaders want to see a moratorium on new mining
concessions until the impact on indigenous rights and biodiversity has
been included in the law, and until demarcation is complete.
They suggest the organisation of an international conference on mining
activities in the three countries, and would like to see an indigenous
committee set up to participate in official international meetings and
conferences.
They would like to see more education and capacity building for
indigenous people to prepare them to negotiate and understand the
projects that affect them.
THE GURI POWER LINE
One of the official megaprojects under debate was the planned 685 km
long power line to bring electricity from the Guri dam in Venezuela to
Boa Vista. It will pass through a Venezuelan National Park and
indigenous areas on both sides of the border. Work has already begun
but no attempt has been made to consult the indian communities who live
in its path.
The Roraima newspaper "Folha de Boa Vista" quoted a Venezuelan magazine
"America Economia" saying that offers are being invited from
international mining companies for 15 gold and diamond mines along the
route of the power line. "The real reasons which led the Venezuelan
government to build the powerline from Guri to Brazil are beginning to
appear", was the paper's comment.
CCPY SCHOOLS ARE MUSHROOMING
Anthropologist Bruce Albert and educational advisor Marta Azevedo made a
three week trip to Demini, Toototobi and Parawau. They found that the
CCPY's Education Project has led to schools mushrooming in different
villages and that handwritten notes are flying backwards and forwards as
the Yanomami exercise their newfound reading and writing skills.
While the original school at Demini continues with teachers Lidia Castro
and Marcos Wesley, four young men who were among the first wave of
pupils in 1996 and 1997 have returned to their own villages in the
Toototobi region and set up a second generation of schools with a
minimum of logistical support and external pedagogic support. In this
short space of time over half the potential pupils in these villages
have begun learning, that is 73 children, men and women out of 135 aged
10 and over. There could soon be a third generation school at Makos,
when four youths return from the school at Toototobi to start teaching
others.
Albert wrote: "the process shows the almost militant interest of the
Yanomami in learning to read and write. One can only imagine the rhythm
of progress that the two teachers recruited by CCPY to support the work
of the Yanomami teachers should unleash."
YANOMAMI POST
He noted that learning to read and write their own language had provided
a new and much appreciated means of internal communication for the
Yanomami through the exchange of letters and notes.
He found that the expectations of both Yanomami teachers and pupils were
high: they want more school, more books, pencils and blackboards, more
reading material in Yanomami. They want more teachers to consolidate
the Yanomami teaching and they want to learn Portuguese and basic maths.
"The desire to learn Portuguese and basic maths seems to be motivated
above all by the social and economic expectations of the "emerging
class" of literate young men of 15 to 30 who are interested in
experimenting new relations with the outside world and in defining their
future status in Yanomami society from this competence in the managing
of interethnic relations.
Thus for these young men (or at least for their vanguard) the school is
associated in a more or less explicit manner to the future possibility
of jobs in CCPY projects (teachers, microscopists, nursing aides) or to
the possibility of developing their own autonomous economic projects."
For Albert there is a danger that unless there is a real perspective of
being able to aspire to one of these socially prestigious jobs, the role
of "indigenous teacher will quickly lose its enchantment for young
literate Yanomami".
He believes that the Education Project must accept this and deal with it
openly. The school cannot be seen only as a means of enabling the
Yanomami to better defend their rights, but must take into account their
socio-economic aspirations.
Albert remembered that the Yanomami in the Toototobi region cannot
escape the influence of the "educational-economic proselytism" of the
evangelical New Tribes mission established at Novo Demini.
A mission shop, trading in Brazil nuts and the use of money has been
introduced.
INDIGENOUS TEACHERS MEETING
Four Yanomami, two of them from the Demini school, took part in a
meeting of 150 indian teachers from 30 different Amazon peoples held in
Manaus in July.
CCPY teachers Lidia and Marcos, two of very few non-indians taking part,
observed that the Yanomami and other indians who were taking part for
the first time and found it difficult to communicate in Portuguese, were
treated by the other indians with great friendliness.
"When the Yanomami went to the front to speak, everyone paid close
attention and silence reigned in the auditorium. It seemed to us that
all those other indian teachers, many of whom are engaged in trying to
rescue the culture of their communities, see the Yanonami (and also the
Waimiri-Atroari, Kulina and Kanamari) as something like a missing link,
a way of being indian that is common to them, which is attractive and
authentic (without being romantic) and that for many years they were
made to believe was a way of being unworthy and inferior. We got the
impression that the participation of the Yanomami brings a very special
contribution, signifying a rediscovery and an appreciation of indigenous
culture."
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