***********************************************

WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Tupinikim & Guarani Indian's Land Struggle in Brazil

***********************************************

Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

6/22/96

OVERVIEW & SOURCE by EE

The "Comission for Articulation and Organization of the Tupinikim and

Guarani Indians in Espirito Santo State, Brasil" makes the following appeal

through CIMI, a Brazilian organization, for efforts to remedy the virtual

occupation of their traditional land. The historical background

surrounding the seizure of their land is provided as well as details of

immediate threats to their land and ecology; notably, the pulp company

Aracruz Celulose and its record of replacing native forests with

plantations of eucalyptus.

g.b.

*******************************

RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

GUARANI AND TUPINIKIM INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN

Comission for Articulation and Organization of the Tupinikim and Guarani

Indians in Espirito Santo State, Brasil

Aracruz, 27th of May 1996

Dear friends,

The text which we hereby present to you aims to inform you about the

problems which we, Tupinikim and Guarani indians, during many years have

been facing mainly because of the dificult land situation which we

encounter.

By means of the information of the present text we apply for efforts of

your organization or your person, to support our struggle in the Espirito

Santo State, Brazil. We propose the following activities:

1. Efforts in the countries which consume the production of "Aracruz

Celulose S/A". Most important countries are the USA, Belgium, Great

Britain and Japan. Other consuming countries are Italy, South Koreia,

Thailand, France, China, Argentine, Indonesia, Mexico and recently

South Africa.

2. Efforts of organizations which are willing to support our fight in the

remaining countries.

3. Efforts in the major foreing shareholder country: Norway.

4. Efforts in Brazil so that pressure will be put on the Company and the

Brazilian Government to decide in favor of the indians.

We would like to request your solidarity and collaboration in supporting

our struggle in one of the above-mentioned activities. Looking forward to

your reply concerning your possible support and/or contribution,

On behalf pf the Commission,

Jonas do Rosario - Iraja community

Jose Luiz Ramos - Caeiras Velhas community Antonio dos Santos - Pau Brasil

community Francisco Coutinho - Comboios community Nelson Guarani - Guarani

community

Address to be contacted:

Conselho Indigenista Missionario - CIMI Caixa Postal 30

29190-970 - Aracruz - ES - BRAZIL

Phone/fax: 00 55 27 256 23 74

E-mail: ideabr@tropical.com.br

INDIANS FIGHT FOR THE LAND INVADED BY ARACRUZ CELULOSE

Sinze 1975, the Tupinikim and Guarani Indians, living at the municipality

of Aracruz, in Espirito Santo State, have been fighting for the recognition

of their rights to occupy their traditional lands. These lands have been

given back to the Indians by the Portuguese Crown and guaranteed in writing

since the Imperial period in Brasil. Nowadays, the Indians, curtailed on

their rights, face misery, the economic power of big companies and omission

of the Brazilian government. To ensure their survival, the Indians are

fighting for the expansion of the area under their jurisdiction, which

presently is occupied by the market pulp company "Aracruz Celulose S/A".

Historical Background

In 1500 - The Tupinikim Indians were encountered by Portuguese explorers at

the coastline from Sao Paulo to Southern Bahia. Their population then, was

estimated in at least 55 thousand people, occupying an extension of land

around 1,000 km. With the beginning of colonization the "domestication"

of the Indians took place, with the purpose of establishing the basis and

expanding the colonial project of Portugal.

The immediate goal of the Portuguese Crown, was not only the occupation of

the territory but as well the "economic development" of the colony. The

strategy of the colonial enterprise was the encroachment of indigenous

groups in controlled settlements, catechization of the Indians and

transformation of them into slave labor. The actions of the Jesuit priests,

forbidding traditional ceremonies and dismantling the original tribe

arrangements, allowed stronger control over the Indians. The Indians'

enslavement, diseases and radical changes on their war habits, ended up

weakening the Tupinikim Indians.

Em 1610 - On the 4th of December, a "sesmaria" of land (79,2 km on

north-south run) was requested to the Governor of the "Capitania" of

Espirito Santo and the Portuguese Crown complied with it. Em 1760 - The

piece of the land above mentioned was demarcated through a "Termo de

Concerto e Composi<ao", but the Indians did not get all the extension

originaly promised. It was only given to the Indians 61.4 km on north-south

run. The historical records say that this area was confirmed by the Emperor

Don Pedro II in 1860, during a visit to the Province of Espirito Santo. A

map from Espirito Santo, dating 1856, registers a population of 3,548

Indians in the region between Vilas da Serra and Linhares, including the

localities of Nova Almeida and Santa Cruz. However, this number of people

did not survive the years of colonization. The Indians of Espirito Santo

were slowly decimated, victims of various maneuvers against them and

personal difficulties. Initially the atacks came from the European

explorers and recently, in the 20th Century, by loggers and farmers after

their forests. Other facts were important and decisive for the Tupinikim

land to continue to be taken over by the non-indian Brazilian society. In

1910, it was created by the Federal Government, the Service of Protection

to the Indians (Servi<o de Prote<ao ao Indio-SPI), which had the main role

of "pacifying"the Indians to allow the construction of railroads and

highways, favoring the establishment of loggers and farmers.

After 1940, the Indians of Aracruz suffered another invasion of their land.

Declaring that the forested areas occupied by the Indians belonged to the

Union, the Government gave away lumber and charcoal exploitation

concessions. The Iron and Steel Company of Vitoria (Companhia Ferro e A<o

de entirely located inside the indigenous territory in the municipality of

Aracruz. The forest was devasted and in this period is started the

environmental degradation of the region. Once the land was cleared of

forest, it was occupied by coffee plantations. The settlers would do

anything to displace the Indians. In 1960 it was registered the presence of

Guarani Indians in Espirito Santo, in the region of Caieiras Velhas, where

they are presently found.

This Guarani Mbya group still maintains the practice of migrating

continuously in their search for the "land with no maladies- their

paradise". The Guarani keep their costumes and speak Guarani. The few

remnant Guarani people survive from game, fishing, crops and handicrafts,

dividing the little forest left with the Tupinikim Indians without

conflicts.

In the 60s, the SPI was terminated and to replace it, was created the

National Indigenous Foundation (Fundacao Nacional do Indio - FUNAI) to

support the new governmental goals. This moment is crucial for determining

the bad conditions in which the Brazilian Indians live today. The Brazilian

Government launched big development projects and the social impact of such

initiatives hit directly the Indians. almost all their land, encroached in

small back yard properties, making more difficult even more the survival of

the group as a whole.

Aracruz Celulose

Presently the problems of the Tupinikim and Guarani Indians are directly

related with the market pulp company Aracruz Celulose. According to data

from The Bank of National Social Development (Banco Nacional de

Desenvolvimento Economico Social - BNDES), Aracruz owns 203,000 ha in

Espirito Santo. This company received from the State and Federal

Governments all sort of incentives. From the State of Espirito Santo's

Government they bought 30,000 ha of indigenous land for a symbolic value of

8/10 of cents of a cruzeiro for m2. And acquired from COFAVI a piece of

property of 10,000 ha (from that indigenous area taken over by this company

back in 1940). The remaining of the indigenous territory occupied by

Aracruz Celulose nowadays, was taken by different maneuvers mainly

"grilagem" (hiring land buyers who use all sort of violence to grab the

land - paying for it or not). displacement of the Indians, declaring that

in that area were no Indians.

The native forests were replaced by eucalyptus plantations, jeopardizing

the traditional way of living of the Indians. The Indians say that:

"Or you would sell your land or they would take it away from you and then

you would have nothing. Then the Indians got afraid and started to move

away... Aracruz arrived destroying everything. They brought two bulldozers

and a big chain, destroying everything ahead of them. We found all sort of

animals dead. Then the forests finished, the birds died, and the rivers

dried..."

The statements of the Indians, who were present during Aracruz's occupation

of the land, illustrate realistically the violence imposed by this company,

which as well is responsible for the environment degradation in the region.

In 1983, after an intense fight, the Indians got back 4.491,40 ha of their

original land (but in discontinuous pieces) and succeeded to have in

demarcated by the Government. Since then, the Indians have been distributed

into five communities: one Guarani and four Tupinikim. The remnant Indians

plantations. Their lands are arid and unproductive, imposing a miserable

life to these people. They can not hunt anymore, the rivers are drying and

the land does not produce as before.

Ten years later, in 1993, the Indians decided to demand the expansion of

their lands, once the indigenous population started to grow again. This

proposal was filed with FUNAI, in Brasilia, under number 1632/93. The

Indians want their land back, because they depend from it for their

survival. The Indians are proposing the restoration of the area destroyed

by Aracruz with eucalyptus plantations to original forests, so that they

can have game, fish and freedom again.

Unification and expansion of the indigenous lands

Despite the fact that the Indians are facing a process of acculturation,

surviving of small crop plantations and selling handicrafts, the Tupinikim

and Guarani Indians are being able to get organized. Presently they are

fighting for the control of 13,579 ha, which has always been theirs and

would allow for their survival. The Indians' proposal for expansion of

their present area, is for the unification of the communities of Caieias

Velhas and Pau Brasil, which will Comboios community to a total area of

3,800 ha. After establishing a strong network to obtain support for their

claim, in the 30th of November of 1993, the Indians succeed to be heard by

the Federal deputy Chamber's Commission on Environment and Minorities. That

day, the President of FUNAI, established a Working Group (Grupo de Trabalho

- GT) to reassess, identify and implement the demarcation of the Tupinikim

an Guarani indigenous areas. Under the decree 0783/94 of 30th August 1994,

the GT was officially established. This Working Group produced a report,

approved by the Indians and which supports the demand of the Indians. All

the paper work is concluded and now it is needed to be officially published

(Diario Oficial da Uniao).

The publication of the report's conclusions has been suspended, due to a

new decree (1775/96) from 8th January of 1996, by the Minister of Justice,

which changed the procedures for the official recognition of indigenous

territories. This decree open possibilities for Aracruz and others to

protest against the demands of the Indians. Indigenous groups of all over

Brasil are fighting against this decree and threat that these changes will

mean for their survival in the areas traditionally belonging to them.

Even recognizing that Aracruz or the Brazilian Government have no interest

Indians, they will not give up. The Indians recognize that succeeding to

get a report from the Working Group was a first step. Given these facts,

the Tupinikim and Guarani Indians are launching an international campaign

asking for the support of ngos, indigenous defense groups, personalities

and authorities to put pressure on Aracruz Celulose, and over the Brazilian

Government to redefine the boundaries of the lands.

###RELAYED TEXT ENDS###

You are encouraged to utilize this information for personal campaign use;

including writing letters, organizing campaigns and forwarding. All

efforts are made to provide accurate, timely pieces; though ultimate

responsibility for verifying all information rests with the reader. Check

out our Gaia Forest Conservation Archives at URL=

http://forests.org/gaia.html

Networked by:

Ecological Enterprises

Email (best way to contact)-> gbarry@forests.org