News-Letter Nr. 450

Indigenous Councillor Threatened with Death in Bahia

The Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe Agnaldo Francisco dos Santos, elected councillor by the Workers Party (PT) in Pau Brasil, south Bahia, 530 kilometers from Salvador, has been receiving threats of death for having denounced nepotism and irregular practices in the municipal administration. The threats have come from the mayor of the city, José Augusto dos Santos, and his assistants. Agnaldo Pataxó traveled to Brasília to report the case to the Federal Department of Justice and the Human Rights Committee of Chamber of Representatives. The councillor asked for protection to perform his mandate but guarantees that he refuses to be intimidated.

According to the councillor, on 5 January, only four days after he took office, the mayor of Pau Brasil signed a decree annulling a public examination held in June 1997 under the allegation of absence of sufficient publicity and lack of documentation from the Municipal Audit Court (TCM). The act caused the dismissal of 178 indigenous and non-indigenous civil servants. Agnaldo Pataxó denounced the fact to the local press and defended the civil servants in a lawsuit against the city government, claiming that the holding of the public examination had been approved unanimously by the City Council. "The TCM considers the examination legal. If there were any irregularity, the Court would have rejected the municipal audits relating to the last two years," he declared. The State Department of Justice received the complaint of the employees and Agnaldo Pataxó. On 23 February the substitute judge of Pau Brasil county, Liziane de Cerqueira Monteiro, granted a preliminary order in favor of the immediate re-admission of the dismissed workers and the payment of their salaries in arrears. The mayor may still appeal.

The threats materialized on the 9th of February. The mayor's personal guard, known as "Escadinha", visited the chief of the Caramuru Catarina Paraguasu village, Gérson Melo, to ask him to "advise" Agnaldo Pataxó to drop the lawsuit and announced that the councilor's life was in danger. He said that he could "sue" Agnaldo. "In the language of our region, that means kill," confirmed Gérson Melo. On 19 February, at the start of legislative activity, a group of 80 Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe accompanied the councilor to lend him protection. At that session, Agnaldo reiterated his position in favor of the rights of the workers and his people. This was met with another threat from "Escadinha".

Mayor José Augusto dos Santos is administering the city of Pau Brasil for the second time. He is a declared opponent of the demarcation of the area of the Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe, since his relatives own land inside the area. The struggle for the demarcation of the Indian land has gone on for 20 years, during which time 13 community leaders have been assassinated. This is the area of the protest in which Galdino Jesus dos Santos, burned alive at a bus stop in Brasília in 1997, was engaged. Regularization of the territory depends on the Federal Supreme Court, which is to decide on an action to annul title deeds that has been going on for 19 years. Meanwhile the Pataxó know that they will face conflicts. Agnaldo Pataxó says that he is aware of this but that he cannot draw back. "If I have to stop denouncing, I will have to resign from my mandate. Killing me will solve nothing. If I die, another will come to carry on this work with even more force," he declared.

For Cimi the situation in Pau Brasil is unbearable. A stop has to be made to all forms of violence, especially the violence practiced by those responsible for keeping order and making sure that the law is obeyed. The entity demands that the state public authorities adopt concrete measures to protect councilor Agnaldo Pataxó and the Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe community so as to prevent an escalation of violence and impunity against the workers and the Indian community.

Brasília, 1 March 2001. Indianist Missionary Council - Cimi




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