Government Agrees with Waimiri-Atroari Indians to Pave Road
11/7/95
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Newsletter n. 183
GOVERNMENT MAKES AGREEMENT WITH
WAIMIRI-ATROARI INDIANS TO PAVE ROAD
The Federal Government has signed another term of commitment
with the Waimiri-Atroari Indians, in the Amazon, promising to pave
the BR-174 stretch which cuts through the Indian reservation area.
This is at least the fourth agreement signed for finishing a road
which has been slowly decimating the Waimiri-Atroari people and
which is geared towards private interests rather than those of the
Indians. Since the construction of the road started, three decades
ago, 80% of the Waimiri-Atroari population has disappeared and its
territory has been reduced by four-fifths. To obtain the
permission from the Indians, the Brazilian Government has resorted
to violent means, such as threats to destroy the village,
transfers and the arrest of leaders. The Waimiri-Atroari area has
been invaded by the multinational mining company Paranapanema and
the Balbina hydroelectric plant. The Balbina plant, built in the
80's and responsible for 1% of the Brazilian foreign debt, does
not generate enough energy not even to supply the needs of the
capital of the state of Amazonas. It flooded over 250,000 hectares
of forest land, and caused irreversible damage to the Indians.
Highway BR-174 is part of an ambitious Federal government's
plan, Paranapanema being directly interested in it. It is
considered a strategic road, due to its connections to the
Caribbean, Central America, the Pacific Ocean, and Asia. In this
last agreement, due to demands made by the Waimiri-Atroari, the
Government's mission, coordinated by the President of FUNAI,
Marcio Santilli, has promised to start the works only after
investing 3.7 million reais (approximately 3.5 million dollars) on
a certain plan for environmental protection and monitoring of the
Waimiri-Atroari area. The agreement, however, does not describe
such a plan.
The terms of commitment signed with the Waimiri-Atroari have
always been ambiguous and do not include open discussions with the
organized civil society, which could help reduce the demage caused
by the works in the indian area. The idea of a plan for the
protection of the Indian area is not new. In 1987, in the previous
agreement with the Federal Government, the Waimiri-Atroari Program
was proposed. That program would diminish the impacts caused by
the Balbina hydroelectric plant on the Indians. The official who
signed the agreement, FUNAI's former President and presently
Senator, Romero Juca, gave a passionate speech in the Senate,
protesting against the amount paid to the Indians and considering
the possibility of direct payment to the Indian community an act
of ``disparagement'' of the Government and a ``dangerous
precedent'' for the autonomy of Indian areas in Brazil.
Brasilia, November 06, 1995
Missionary Indian Council - Cimi