Brazilian Plan to Reduce Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Area Sets

ACTION ALERT

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Sinister Precedent

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

3/18/97

OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE

A recent controversial ruling on the demarcation of an Indian reserve

in the frontier state of Roraima, Brazil threatens to set a most

miserable precedent as to the non-sanctity of Indian land demarcation.

Following are two items concerning the matter, the first a photocopy

of a Reuters article and the second an action alert from the

Environmental Defense Fund. The Brazilian constitution states that

Indian lands must be vacated by non-Indians. In dispatch No. 80 of

December, 1996, the Brazilian government significantly undermined this

social and ecological protection for Amazonian lands. The Raposa

Serra do Sol indigenous area, formerly occupying 1.6 million hectares,

was decreased by at least 300,000 hectares, divided into five parts,

and five illegal gold boom enclaves within the indigenous land were

legitimized. Given this wanton and destructive disrespect for

indigenous cultures and non-exploitative land uses, clearly no area of

the Amazon can be thought of as "protected".

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

ITEM #1

Church says Brazil Indians under attack by whites

3/13/97

BRASILIA (Reuter) - Brazil's Roman Catholic Church said on Thursday

that a controversial ruling on the demarcation of an Indian reserve

was having disastrous consequences for indigenous tribes in the north.

The Catholic Church's Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI)

said municipal leaders in the Raposa/Serra do Sol reservation in the

frontier state of Roraima were planning "illegal" dam projects and

were constructing roads on Indian lands.

Justice Minister Nelson Jobim came under attack from indigenous groups

last December when he decided to allow five non-Indian municipalities

to remain in Raposa/Serra do Sol after its demarcation.

The constitution states indigenous lands must be vacated by non-

Indians.

CIMI said the Indian Council of Roraima had denounced plans by the

town of Uiramuta to build a dam and work already under way by the town

of Pacaraima to lay a road through Raposa/Serra do Sol.

In addition, CIMI said a former leader of the Indian Council of

Roraima recently received death threats in the town hall of Normandia.

"All of this has resulted from the unfortunate (decision) of Justice

Minister Nelson Jobim, who reshaped and cut back the indigenous area,

leaving space for small towns set up by wildcat gold and diamond

miners," CIMI said in a statement.

Pressure groups and indigenous organizations say last year's

Raposa/Serra do Sol decision could set a worrying precedent for

dozens of other reservations waiting to be properly demarcated.

Some 11,000 Indians of the Makuxi, Ingariko, Wapixana, Taurepang and

Patamona tribes live on Raposa's 4.0 million acres. Clashes between

Indians using bows and arrows and armed outsiders are common.

ITEM #2:

From: Kenneth Walsh <Kenneth_Walsh@edf.org>

Date: Fri, 14 Mar 1997 05:37:48 -0500

Subject: Urg. Action: Threat to Indig. Lands in Brazil

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND

1875 Connecticut Ave., NW, 10th Fl.

Washington, D.C. 20009

Telephone: (202) 387-3500

Facsimile: (202) 234-6049

URGENT ACTION

March 12, 1997

Environmental and Social Issues in the Amazon and the Fernando

Henrique Cardoso Government

Government Decision Undermines Constitutional Protection of Indigenous

Lands

Minister of Justice Nelson Jobim's December 24th decision (Despacho

no. 80) to reduce and divide the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Area

in Roraima state sets a sinister precedent for the approximately 190

indigenous lands, covering more than 17 million hectares (virtually

all in the Amazon) awaiting approval of the Justice Ministry in order

for their demarcations to proceed. The decision jeopardizes the G7

Pilot Program's Indigenous Lands Project, and seriously compromises

Constitutional protection of Indian land rights.

In the key test case of the FHC government's indigenous policy,

Minister Jobim opted to trade Indian land for the votes of the Roraima

Congressional delegation in support of a constitutional amendment

permitting reelection of the president. The deal struck, in Jobim's

meeting with the Roraima state politicians December 22, reduces the

1.6 million hectare area by at least 300,000 hectares, divides it

into five parts, and legitimates five illegal gold boom enclaves

within the indigenous land. The decision further supports the creation

of a new county seat within the indigenous area, by which criterion

any state wishing to legislate its "Indian problem" out of existence

is essentially invited to do so. The Minister's proposal would exclude

approximately 20 Indian villages from the indigenous area, as well as

dozens of other sites, natural pastures and other resources on which

the Indians depend for their survival. Several Indian villages are on

land that would be given to ranchers by the decision, and would have

to be removed -- a step expressly prohibited by the Constitution

except for reasons of national security or imminent threat to the

survival of the indigenous group.

Brazilian Constitutions since 1934 have recognized Indian rights to

the lands they traditionally occupy, but only since the 1988

Constitution has the demarcation process -- the administrative process

of assigning specified boundaries to Indian land -- gained momentum.

The 1988 Constitution committed the government to demarcating all

indigenous lands within five years. There are 554 indigenous areas in

Brazil, covering over 99 million hectares (11% of the national

territory, and nearly 20% of the Amazon). Less than half of the

areas, covering some 47 million hectares, have been fully demarcated,

mostly since 1988.

The Raposa Serra do Sol area is inhabited by about 12,000 Macuxi,

Wapixana, Ingariko and Taurepang Indians, in some 100 villages.

Although official recognition that the area was inhabited by Indians

dates to 1917, the area was never demarcated, and is currently invaded

by miners (most of whom came when they were removed from the Yanomami

territory in 1990), ranchers, some shopkeepers and camp followers. The

total non-indigenous population is under 2,000. Many of these left

the area when FUNAI (the National Indian Foundation) carried out the

identification of the area in 1993. The identification, challenged by

the state government, was supported by the Federal Attorney General's

Office as well as the legal department of the Ministry of Justice, and

documents the indigenous occupation and use of the area in exceptional

detail. But since the Justice Ministry ceded to political pressure and

delayed the demarcation, the state government has systematically

stimulated the reinvasion of the area, investing in roads and

infrastructure in the decaying gold-boom towns and putting invaders on

the public payroll, in order to create the appearance of crisis and

prevent the demarcation. Ranches and boom towns alike have been focal

points of chronic conflict: in the last eight years, at least 11

Macuxi have been killed, and many others beaten, illegally imprisoned,

or had their houses and property destroyed.

The Minister's decision, in creating enclaves for the five gold- boom

towns within the Indian territory, renders these conflicts permanent

and insoluble: the towns live from illegal mining, which degrades the

resources on which the surrounding communities depend. It further, in

giving land to ranches that received land titles from the federal land

agency (INCRA) since 1981, flouts a central principle of indigenous

land protection of the Constitution: Article 231, paragraph 6, states

that, "acts that have as their object the occupation, dominion, or

possession of [indigenous] lands are null and void, and without legal

effect . . ." If, as Minister Jobim would have it, the Indians are to

bear the costs of the government's prior error, then any undemarcated

indigenous area in which government agencies have unconstitutionally

granted land to invaders is open to similar reduction.

The decision, as predicted by the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR),

has already provoked more conflict and violence in the region. The

mayor of the town of Pacaraima has begun construction of a road

passing though various villages in Raposa Serra do Sol and leading to

the Agua Fria gold mine. The mayor of Uiramuta, the municipality

created within the Raposa Serra do Sol area to block the demarcation,

announced the construction of a hydroelectric dam in the area. A

previous attempt by the state government to build a hydroelectric on

the Cotingo river generated serious conflict in 1995. On February

16th, Nelino Gale, former coordinator of CIR and currently town

councilman in Normandia, adjoining the Raposa Serra do Sol area, was

assaulted and threatened with death in the town hall, by one of the

invaders of the Indian area, Elizio Pereira.

Ministerial dispatch No. 80 signals a disturbing change in indigenous

policy, from slow implementation of the Constitutional mandate to

demarcate the lands occupied by indigenous peoples to its reversal in

attempts to reduce and fragment them. Minister Jobim has called on

FUNAI to prepare the demarcation order (portaria) before he leaves

office at the end of March. The indigenous organization, CIR, which

has worked for the demarcation of a single, continuous area for the

last 20 years, opposes the reduction and division of the area proposed

in the Minister's decision.

Minister Jobim's decision on Raposa Serra do Sol should be revoked and

the entire continuous area indentified by FUNAI in 1993 be demarcated.

Invaders should be removed, and where appropriate, indemnified or

resettled.

For more information contact: Steve Schwartzman, EDF, 1875

Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 1016, Washington, D.C. 20009;

Telephone 202 387 3500; Facsimile 202 234 6049; E-mail

steves@edf.org.

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Jobim Decision Begins to Aggravate Situation of Raposa Serra do Sol

THE INDIGENOUS COUNCIL OF RORAIMA - CIR, on March 6th communicated to

Minister of Justice Nelson Jobim and President Fernando Henrique

Cardoso profound concern with the consequences of Dispatch no. 80 of

12/12/96 for the Macuxi, Ingariko, Wapixana and Taurepang indigenous

communities of the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous area, relating the

follows facts:

- - On February 16, the former CIR coordinator (from 95-96),

currently county councilman in the county of Normandia, Nelino Gale

was assaulted and threatened with death in the town hall, by Elizio

Pereira, of the Triunfo ranch, owner of the Placa bar located on the

road from Normandia to Surumu.

- - At the beginning of January, the mayor of Pacaraima, seat of the

county of the same name, illegally located within the Sao Marcos

indigenous area, began to construct a road going from the town of

Pacaraima, though villages in Raposa Serra do Sol to the Agua Fria

gold mining area.

- - The mayor the county of Uiramuta announced the beginning of

construction of a 140KW hydroelectric on the Paiua creek. The attempt

by the state government to construct a hydroelectric on the Cotingo

river in 1995, generated conflicts with the Indians and international

repercussions.

These very serious occurrences are the results of the decision to

reduce the indigenous area, giving the appearance of legality to acts

of invasion that will tend to become consolidated and multiply if

Dispatch no. 80 results in a demarcation order (portaria). CIR does

not accept Minister Jobim's decision and has been attempting to

arrange a meeting with the President to express its concern.

Nevertheless, the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) has informed us

that the Minister intends to sign the order before he leaves office at

the end of the month. In order for FUNAI to prepare the demarcation

order reducing the indigenous land following the dispatch, which

constitutes a new identification of the area without the requisite

anthropological report, it will be necessary to send a team to the

area to redraw the boundaries. CIR appeals to all organizations to

send letters to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Minister

Jobim, requesting that the reduction not be carried out, but that the

whole Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous area be demarcated.

Boa Vista, March 10, 1997

Jeronimo Pereira - Coordinator of CIR

Please write or fax:

Imo. Sr. Nelson Jobim

Ministro da Justica

Esplanada dos Ministerios

Bl. T Brasilia

DF 70064-900

Brazil

Fax 55 61 224 2448

Ilmo. Sr

Fernando Henrique Cardoso

Presidente da Republica

Palacio do Planalto

Brasilia DF 70160-900

Brazil

Fax 55 61 226 7566

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