News-Letter  Nr. 411

Indigenous Nations hold post-conference

From May 18 till May 20, about 300 indigenous leaders will be gathered in Pesqueira, state of Pernambuco, 215 km from Recife, to take part in the Post-Conference of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of Brazil. The meeting will take place one month after the Indigenous Conference, which brought together more than 3,000 indigenous leaders from all regions of Brazil in the Coroa Vermelha village, Santa Cruz de Cabrália, state of Bahia. The Post-Conference will be held in the Xukuru indigenous land, 10 km from Pesqueira. It was organized by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of the Northeast, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo (Apoinme) and is intended to define how action lines agreed upon in the meeting in April will be actually implemented. On Saturday, May 20, the meeting will be closed with a public demonstration in memory of the second year of the murder of chief Francisco de Assis Araújo (Xicão Xukuru).

The participants in the Post-Conference will be discussing the implementation of proposals agreed upon in the Final Document of the Conference and considering proposals for the Statute of Indigenous Peoples, which is being reviewed by the National Congress for approval. They will also fix the date and location of the 2nd Indigenous Conference, which will be held in 2005, as agreed upon in Bahia. The idea is to set up a working group to ensure the implementation of decisions made at the Indigenous Conference. The same group will follow up the review of the Statute of Indigenous People by the National Congress, so as to prevent any harm to indigenous rights already provided for in the Federal Constitution. The demonstration in memory of chief Xicão Xukuru will begin with a mass with indigenous rites in the morning. In the afternoon, the demonstrators will walk to the site in Pesqueira where chief Xicão was murdered, where representatives of indigenous peoples and social movements will rally.

The date of May 20 was incorporated into the calendar of the struggle of indigenous peoples as a reminder of the ideals of the Xukuru chief and also to emphasize the impunity that prevails when crimes are committed against indigenous people in Brazil. Xicão Xukuru was one of the leaders of Apoinme and became a reference for indigenous peoples in the East and Northeast. He was shot to death in front of his sister's home because of his fight to have the boundaries of the Xukuru land officially demarcated. Although two investigations were carried out, nobody has been convicted of the crime after two years.

UN may investigate aggressive acts of the military police against demonstrators in Bahia

The High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations Organization, Mary Robinson, said this week in Brasília that she may request an investigation of the acts of aggression of the military police against representatives of indigenous peoples and social movements in the demonstration staged on April 22 in Santa Cruz de Cabrália, state of Bahia. Robinson said that the topic has been discussed with president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. On Monday, the 15th, she held meetings with representatives of non-governmental groups and organizations dealing with social and human rights issues and received a comprehensive set of documents on the subject.

The high commissioner was tough in her comments about the violation of human rights in Brazil and criticized the slow demarcation of indigenous lands in the country. The statements of Mary Robinson, who was once president of Ireland and is very respected for her political background, embarrassed the Brazilian government and strengthened the support of the UN to the struggle and claims of indigenous people in Brazil, who have been repeatedly complaining about the lack of interest and sluggishness of the government to demarcate indigenous areas and denouncing the impunity that prevails when indigenous people are murdered.

Brasília, 18 May 2000.
Indianist Missionary Council - Cimi





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