***********************************************
WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Genocide
Against Brazilian Uncontacted Indigenous Peoples
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
10/16/96
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE by EE
The
Environmental Defense Fund and the Indigenous Work Center of Brazil make
serious
allegations of virtual "ethnic cleansing" of Brazilian Indians by
ranchers,
loggers and others in Rondonia state.
The few remaining uncontacted
indigenous
peoples are described as "frightened and famished." The abuses are
not a
one time affair, and several investigative reports have identified the
pattern
of violence used to extract natural resources.
It is clear that
exploitation
of indigenous peoples continues its several hundred year march with
resultant
cultural and ecological extinction.
This item was posted in econet's
rainfor.general
conference.
g.b.
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/**
rainfor.genera: 148.0 **/
**
Topic: Rondonia Action Alert **
**
Written 8:28 AM Oct 14, 1996 by Kenneth_Walsh@edf.org in
cdp:rainfor.genera
**
From:
Kenneth Walsh <Kenneth_Walsh@edf.org>
Date:
Mon, 14 Oct 1996 07:23:31 -0400
URGENT
ACTION
Stephan
Schwartzman Vincent
Carelli
Environmental
Defense Fund Indigenous Work
Center (CTI)
Tel.
202-387-3500 (55 11)
813 3450
Fax 202-234-6049 (55 11) 813 0747
steves@edf.org
Amazon
Rancher Carries Out "Ethnic Cleansing" of Indians to Get Land in
Rondonia:
Genocide
in the Amazon
10/10/95
Filmmaker
Vincent Carelli, of the Indigenist Work Center (CTI) in Sao Paulo and
Marcelo
Santos of the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) documented today that a
rancher
in Xupinaguaia county in Rondonia state in the Brazilian Amazon
bulldozed
the remains of a village of uncontacted Indians, to erase evidence of
the
Indians' presence. Before and after aerial photographs of the village site
reveal
the destruction. The cattle rancher had already clearcut the forest in
the
area. This is the most recent piece of evidence in a pattern of killings,
terrorism,
forced removal and destruction of the traces of uncontacted Indians
over
the last decade in Rondonia that the NGO and Santos, a government Indian
agent,
have brought to light. Indians in Brazil in theory are guaranteed rights
to the
land they traditionally occupy by the Constitution, and the government is
obligated
to protect them. This pattern of genocide of uncontacted Indians in
Rondonia
has yet to be investigated by the police and has gone entirely
unpunished
by the courts.
In
mid-September, FUNAI agents in Rondonia delivered a report to Federal
Prosecutor
Francisco Marinho, in Porto Velho, Rondonia documenting the expulsion
by
gunfire of uncontacted Indians from their village. Witnesses attest that the
rancher
Hercules Golviea Dalafini, of the Modelo ranch in Xupinaguaia county
ordered
his men to open fire on the surviving members of an uncontacted Indian
group
to drive them off of land that he claims.
On
September 13, a National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) team discovered a clearcut
in the
forest on the site of an indigenous garden, where a bulldozer had
attempted
to extinguish the traces of a wrecked Indian house, and holes dug by
the
Indians around it. The remains of a garden of corn and papaya were still
clear
at the site, as were 14 holes and signs of an older house.
Various
reports confirm that in January of 1996 the rancher hired a contractor
to
clearcut the area in month of January. The contractor entered the village
shooting,
pulled down and burned the longhouse, and destroyed the garden of corn
and
squash. On this occasion, three Indians, with long hair and without
clothing,
fled and were pursued through the forests on the ranch. Later, a
bulldozer
opened an access road for the deforestation and attempted to cover up
the
vestiges of the village. That the deforestation was done in January, the
height
of the rainy season, indicates that the rancher's intent was to destroy
evidence
of the Indians' presence, since deforestation for cattle pasture or
agriculture
is done in the dry season.
This
type of action by cattle ranchers against isolated Indians in Corumbiara
and
Xupinaguaia counties has been repeated over the last ten years. In 1984,
loggers'
trucks were shot with arrows by Indians in vicinity of the Igarape
Umere
(Umere Creek). In 1985, Marcelo Santos
reported evidence of a possible
massacre
of Indians on Mr. Junqueira Vilela's Yvupita ranch. He found the same
scenario
as last September: houses and gardens destroyed, a bulldozer to finish
the
job, and bullet shells.
No
judicial inquiry was ever opened to establish what had happened. In April
1986,
FUNAI interdicted a 60 thousand hectare area for nine months, during which
time
the cattle ranchers continued clearcutting freely, interfering with FUNAI's
attempts
to contact the Indians. On confirming that the Indians were not at
the
moment on the Yvupita ranch, FUNAI suspended the interdiction of the area,
turning
it over to the ranches.
Indigenist
Marcelo Santos, meanwhile, continued his investigations, visiting the
region
repeatedly, and collecting references to the Indians from local workers.
Starting
in 1994, as head of the FUNAI department for Isolated Indians in
Rondonia,
Santos put the search on a more systematic basis.
On
September 3, 1995, FUNAI finally located the first two Canoe Indians on the
Umere
Creek, on the boundaries of Antenor Duarte's Sao Sebastiao ranch, and
Alceu
Feldman's Olga ranch.
The
Federal Court in Porto Velho, at the request of the attorney general's
office,
had already guaranteed a safe conduct on the ranches for the FUNAI team,
to
allow the search to go forward, and then issued several court orders
interdicting
a 50 thousand hectare area in order to protect these Indians. By
the end
of October, contact was consolidated with the Canoe, and another 7
Indians
of the Tupari language family. The judicial interdiction was
subsequently
ratified by FUNAI.
In May
1996, filmmaker Vincent Carelli, who has documented case since 1986,
collected
from the Tupari a statement that confirms the occurrence of an armed
attack
against these Indians ten years ago, in which about ten were killed. The
members
of both groups show visible signs of
psychological disturbance from the
violence
they have suffered. Anthropological reports attest that the Canoe
have
been driven away at least twice from
the left bank of the Umere Creek (on
Mr.
Almir Lando's ranch).
The
vestiges discovered last week on the Modelo and Bagatolli ranches suggest
that
the group in question is a third group, with different characteristics from
the
others: they dig deep holes in the middle of their longhouses and mark the
trees
around their villages.
The
discovery of the first two groups in 1995, and the interdiction of parts of
some
the ranches in the area appear to have moved rancher Dalfini to a desperate
attempt
to wipe out the vestiges of indigenous presence on his ranch. The three
Indians
who lived in the area have fled into forest. The FUNAI team sighted one
man
last month, while he was collecting wild honey.
The
World Bank has financed development projects in the region over the last
decade
that include indigenous protection components. The most recent of these,
Planafloro,
finances the FUNAI contact teams. World Bank involvement, and the
government's
contractual obligations to carry out Indian protection, have been
insufficient
to prevent the extermination of the Indians of the Umere Creek. In
September
of 1995, days before Santos made the first contact with the survivors,
a UNDP
consultant to the Bank project vigorously attempted to convince the new
President
of FUNAI to cancel the isolated Indians subcomponent of the project,
arguing
that there were no more uncontacted Indians in the state.
Frightened
and famished, these small isolated indigenous groups have been
submitted
over the last decade to a process of ethnic cleansing by the cattle
ranchers.
The pattern of terrorist expulsions, evidence of killings, and
destruction
of the Indians' homes and means of subsistence, coupled with
complete
judicial impunity for the perpetrators indicates that the genocide of
these
Indians is commonplace and accepted in the region.
PLEASE
WRITE, FAX OR EMAIL
Imo.
Sr. Nelson Jobim Ministro da Justica
Esplanada dos
Ministerios
Bl. T Brasilia DF 70064-900 Brasil
fax
55-61-2242448 email: njobim@ax.apc.org
Request
that the Minister ensure a thorough police investigation of the events
and
that the responsible parties be held judicially accountable for their
actions.
Also request that the Minister instruct FUNAI to fully protect the land
of the
Indians of Igarape Umere immediately.
Please
Write:
Ilmo.
Dr. Julier Sebastiao da Silva Av.
Presidente Dutra 2203 Justica Federal
Centro
78.900-970 Porto Velho, Rondonia
Brasil
Request
that in light of the urgent situation, the judge approve the judicial
interdiction
of the territory of the Indians of Igarape Umere, and that he open
an
investigation and ensure its conclusion.
for
further information contact:
Stephan
Schwartzman Vincent
Carelli
Environmental
Defense Fund Indigenous Work
Center (CTI)
Tel.
202-387-3500 (55 11)
813 3450
Fax 202-234-6049 (55 11) 813 0747
steves@edf.org
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