News-Letter Nr. 452

Police uses Violence Against the Xokleng

The Xokleng from the La Klãnõ indigenous community have denounced the use of violence and truculence by the Military Police (PM) of Santa Catarina. On the morning of 12 March, 35 members of the PM, accompanied by four employees of the Manoel Marchetti Timber Company invaded the indigenous area in the municipality of José Boiteux. On the pretence of complying with a preliminary order to maintain the property in favor of the timber company, the military police attacked indigenous people passing by on roads inside the indigenous territory. Eight Xokleng were wounded. Six were handcuffed and suffered physical violence when they were taken to the police stations, where they remained in detention for several hours and then released after an investigation was opened.

The indigenous people hold the Ministry of Justice responsible for the violence. Due to pressure from politicians and regional businessmen, since December of last year the federal government has been delaying the publication of the ruling that declares and demarcates the new boundaries of the indigenous land. The Manoel Marchetti Timber Company is taking advantage of this slowness. The preliminary order was granted by Iraci Satomi Schioquetti, state judge for Ibirama County, in favor of the Manoel Marchetti Timber Company, which claims its rights to the land that it invaded. The company accuses the indigenous people of removing wood. The state judge's decision is irregular in that it is the sole responsibility of the Federal Justice to decide on questions involving indigenous land. According to what the indigenous people have denounced, the preliminary order was fulfilled without Funai or indigenous leaders being notified of the decision.

The Xokleng reported that a group of Indian women were travelling in a truck from inside their land to shop in the city of José Boiteux, when they were fired at by policemen and employees of the Manoel Marchetti Timber Company. The ambulance of the National Health Foundation (Funasa) that was being driven by Basílio Priprá, the regional chief of the Bugio village, was also intercepted by the policemen and detained from 10 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. The chief was taking sick people to the hospital in the same city. The indigenous people were beaten up by the PM and deprived of medical care and food. Among the sick, a woman travelling with her six-day-old baby fainted when she saw her brother and mother being mistreated. An elderly Indian woman was hit on the head with the butt of a gun, an elderly man was fired at with rubber bullets, and a paraplegic violently attacked with his own crutch. The chief was handcuffed and forced to remain there without any chance of reacting.

In addition to these incidents of aggression, the police followed the people to their houses, invaded their residences and threatened their children, who were forced to flee into the forest. During the persecution, the police fired shots in the air and in the direction of the people, threatened to push the vehicle with the sick over an embankment, and cursed at the indigenous community.

The Xokleng have declared "war." They have stated that they have no intention of giving up the demarcation of their land and demonstrated against the state government to offer some explanation for the violence. The indigenous people traveled to Brasília to exert pressure on the Ministry of Justice to take a decision on the matter. Over 300 farming families, the state government, three municipal governments, eight timber companies and two environmental Non-Governmental Organizations are against demarcation of the indigenous land. The Xokleng are fighting for the demarcation of 37,108 hectares identified by Funai in November 1999.

Malaria and Malnutrition Affect Indian Villages

An outbreak of malaria is afflicting the Guarani and Kaiová Indian villages in Mato Grosso do Sul. The first focus was discovered on 23 February in the Jaguapiré village in the municipality of Tacuru in the extreme south of the state, but it has already spread to the neighboring villages of Sassoró, Porto Lindo and Paraguaçu. About 100 indigenous people have been infected by the Plasmodium Vivax mosquito, and in some cases entire families have fallen sick. In Jaguapiré, a community of 480 people, 91 are infected. There have been no deaths so far. Funai and the National Health Foundation (Funasa) have begun to combat the mosquito, disinfecting homes and treating the sick. Official organs suspect that the disease entered the state by members of the Guarani community infected in Paraguay, due to the intense transit being villages. The rainy season increases the risk of the disease spreading.

In Rio Grande do Sul, malnutrition has killed 12 Guarani children between the months of December and March in the Guarita village in the municipality of Redentora. The local government has decreed a state of emergency. After mutual accusations, Funai and Funasa have begun a nutritional recovery project, with reinforced feeding and distribution of milk to children. A team of nutritionists and doctors is examining the families.

In the Guarita village, approximately 300 families live in miserable circumstances. The eating habits of the indigenous people have been altered by intense contact with non-indigenous society, thereby favoring malnutrition. This means that one of the tasks faced by the Funai and Funasa technicians is to recover the alimentary pattern of the indigenous people and correct the nutritional deficiencies.

The living conditions of the indigenous people in these two states is similar to most of the Indian communities in the country. Cases of diseases characteristic of poverty, malnutrition and the consequences (dysentery and dehydration) are very common situations in many communities.

Instead of concentrating efforts to prevent and control malnutrition, the federal government outsources health services, thus jeopardizing the attendance given to the indigenous people. The most effective investment is when the situation reaches a climax or the international press, as in the case of the Araweté community in the state of Pará, infected by chicken pox in November last year. In these situations, it is common for Funai and Funasa to stop accusing one another and announce programs to control the diseases, but these programs are quickly forgotten when the emergency is over.

Brasília, 15 March 2001.
Indianist Missionary Council - Cimi




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