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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Brazilian
Rainforest Update--Victory for Guarani-Kaiowa Indians & More
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
5/23/96
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE by EE
The
Indianist Missionary Council - CIMI reports on three significant
developments
in Brazilian rainforest and indigenous peoples issues.
Thankfully,
the announced eviction of Guarani-Kaiowa Indians from the
Jarara
indigenous area in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, reported on by
this
list, has been revoked and is under further review. This is very good
news.
The
Brazilian government has recently published governmental regulations
for
demarcation of 17 of 152 uncontested indigenous territories. An
additional
107 indigenous lands are being contested under the recent
Brazilian
policy of reviewing indigenous land classifications.
Additionally,
it is reported that with the advent of the dry season, at
least
three Yanomami villages have once again been invaded by an estimated
3,000
miners. Despite this bad news, the
movement for social justice and
environmental
responsibility continues.
g.b.
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/*
Written 5:32 PM May 24, 1996 by ax:cimi in
igc:rainfor.genera */
/*
---------- "VICTORY OF GUARANI-KAIOWA INDIANS I" ---------- */
From:
<cimi>
Received:
(from cimi) by esperanca.ibase.br (8.6.12/Revision: 1.6 ) id
RAA14395;
Fri, 24 May 1996 17:32:27 -0300
Date:
Fri, 24 May 1996 17:32:27 -0300
Subject:
VICTORY OF GUARANI-KAIOWA INDIANS IN JARARA INDIGENOUS AREA
Newsletter
n. 211
VICTORY
OF GUARANI-KAOIWA INDIANS IN JARARA INDIGENOUS AREA
Last
Wednesday (05/22), Judge Theotonio Costa, of the Regional Federal
Court
in Sao Paulo, revoked his ruling authorizing the eviction of Guarani-
Kaiowa
Indians from the Jarara indigenous area in the state of Mato Grosso
do Sul.
The decision was made at the request of the District General,
Silvia
Luedemann, according to whom the former ruling should be suspended
for
humanitarian reasons. The action of the District Attorney was based on
an
appeal made by the indigenous commission, CAPOIB, Cimi and the Pro-
Indian
Commission, which together with the Workers' Party in Sao Paulo
managed
to convince the judge to reverse his decision and the Office of the
General
Attorney to formally intervene in the matter. The decision of the
Federal
Court will remain in effect until the bill of review filed at the
Court
by farmer Miguel Subtil de Oliveira is judged.
The
Guarani-Kaiowa were threatening to commit suicide collectively or to
engage
in a bloody conflict if they were evicted this Thursday (05/23). The
Jarara
village was reoccupied on March 22. It is the third time that the
indigenous
group tries to return to its land and leave behind the extreme
poverty
it has been facing for nine years in the outskirts of the city of
Juti.
247 families live in the area. Representatives of the Guarani-Kaiowa
from
the Jarara village have meetings scheduled for next week with Judge
Theotonio
Costa and with the 1st Civil Team of the Regional Federal Court,
which
will analyze the grounds of the bill of review filed by the above-
mentioned
farmer.
GOVERNMENT
ISSUES REGULATIONS TO DEMARCATE 17 AREAS
Although
they were signed on the 17th, only on Tuesday, May 21, the
minister
of Justice, Nelson Jobim, published governmental regulations
providing
for the demarcation of 17 indigenous areas in ten Brazilian
states
in the Official Newspaper of the Union. The decrees define the
bounds
of the areas and charges FUNAI with the task of physically
demarcating
them. The areas are part of a list of 152 areas whose bounds or
existence
were not contested before the deadline for doing so provided for
in
Decree 1775/96 (April 8). According to FUNAI, the demarcation of 107
other
areas depends on a political decision of the minister of Justice.
According
to the new Decree, the signing of these governmental regulations
is the
second stage of the four-stage administrative procedure for the
demarcation
of indigenous lands. The demarcation must still be homologated
and
registered.
YANOMAMI
AREA IS INVADED BY MINERS
With
the end of the rainy season, at least three Yanomami villages were
once
again invaded by miners. So far, the presence of 3,000 miners and 35
clandestine
runways has been registered in the region. According to FUNAI
and
nongovernmental organizations which are active in the area, 4,000
additional
miners who are to about to be expelled from the Venezuelan
territory
are expected to arrive at any time. The inspection of the area,
where
9,000 Yanomami live, was suspended in March and now the official
indigenist
agency says it needs 6 million dollars to resume the operation.
Since
the miners returned to this area, the Yanomami Sanitary District has
registered
a considerable increase in the number of malaria cases among the
Indians.
Brasilia,
24 May 1996
Indianist
Missionary Council - CIMI
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