News-Letter Nr. 461

Indigenous People of Roraima Report Encroachment on Their Lands and Violence in the State

The Human Rights Committee of the Chamber of Representatives (CDH) held an extraordinary public hearing on Wednesday, the 16th, to receive reports of encroachments and problems related to the establishment of military units of the Army in indigenous areas in the state of Roraima. The hearing was attended by a commission of representatives of Macuxi communities of the Raposa/Serra do Sol and Yanomami indigenous areas, by the executive secretary of CIMI, Egon Heck, and by attorney general Deborah Macedo Duprat, who received death threats recently because of her work in defense of indigenous peoples.

Representative Padre Roque (Workers' Party - state of Paraná), who presided over the hearing, heard reports from the attorney general, from Funai's administrator, and from CIMI about circumstances of disregard for the constitutional rights of indigenous peoples. They expressed concern about the establishment of Army Platoons in indigenous areas close to indigenous villages, which has led to more violence and enhanced threats to the culture of these peoples. The Army ministry has plans to implement an additional Special Border Platoon (PEF) in the Yanomami area, where three of these units have been established already. In April, the Army secured an authorization from the Regional Federal Court (TRF to build the 6th PEF in the Uiramutã village, located in the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous area, 350 km from Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima.

Davi Kopenawa and Alexandre Yanomami once again reported that Yanomami women have been sexually abused by Army soldiers. In February of this year, federal representative Marcos Rolim, who was then the chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the Chamber of Representatives, visited a Yanomami village in the Surucucus region to hear reports of sexual abuse. During the hearing held on Wednesday, the report of the representative was questioned by a group of representatives from the Amazon region who support the position of the Army. Marcos Rolim refused to change the contents of his report and asked representative Padre Roque to consider the possibility of submitting the facts reported therein to the Inter-American Human Rights Committee of the Organization of American States (OAS).

The Yanomami expressed their position against the establishment of more platoons in their area. Outraged, Davi said that indigenous people want to take part in decisions involving their lands. "If you want to build anything in our land, talk to us first," he said. He demanded respect for the demarcation of the land of his people, the bounds of which are being contested by politicians and constantly disregarded.

The Macuxi Dionito José de Souza said that the rate of invasion of the Raposa/Serra do Sol area has increased because it is taking too long for the government to ratify its demarcation. On the evening of May 9, a group of drunken soldiers from the 7th Infantry Jungle Battalion invaded the Lage indigenous community, located at 8km from Uiramutã, carrying firearms and intimidating indigenous people with threats. Frightened, the children of the community hid in the forest and only returned to their homes in the small hours of the following day. The soldiers threatened the community with a "bloodshed" in the village. The spiritual leader of the community, Waldir Clementino, reported the incident to the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) and Funai.

Because of all these facts, general attorney Débora Duprat warns that the problems caused by the presence of the military in an indigenous area in Roraima are escalating. The city hall and the Army have intensified developments and illegal construction activities inside the indigenous territory as a result of the delay of the government to ratify the bounds of the Raposa/Serra do Sol area. In CIMI's opinion, the strategy of the Calha Norte Project of occupying border areas has disregarded the rights of indigenous people and has given rise to violence against them, as it is based on the same colonialist and prejudiced attitude that has marked the position of the State in relation to indigenous peoples in the last five centuries. "A change in mentality is urgently required, so that indigenous peoples may be heard and respected," said Egon Heck.

INCRA does not Accept Demarcation of Indigenous Area and Wants CIMI to be 'Investigated'

The director of the National Land Reform Institute (Incra) in the state of Acre, Aldenor Fernandes, declared to the "A Gazeta" newspaper that he will ask the Federal Police to investigate CIMI's activities in the state. According to this director, CIMI "has been creating problems for the agency" for a long time by encouraging the creation of "new ethnical groups," this time for the purpose of turning the site reserved for a project called Amônia, designed to settle peasants in rural areas in Marechal Thaumaturgo (state of Acre), into an indigenous reservation. On May 11, the mayor of Marechal Thaumaturgo, Itamar de Sá, held a meeting with settlers, Incra representatives, and state representative Wagner Sales (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party) to explain to them why he is against the demarcation of the area. After the meeting, the climate between indigenous people and settlers became very tense.

The 'new ethnical group' which the director of Incra referred to is the reemerged Apolima people, which the agency has always treated as non-indigenous workers. In 1999, a group of approximately 270 people reported their indigenous origin to CIMI and claimed the demarcation of an area of their own, as provided for in the Federal Constitution. CIMI reported this fact to Funai. In a letter to Incra, the director of Funai in the state of Acre, Antonio Pereira Neto, confirmed the report about this reemerged people and the creation of a Working Group to study and identify an area to be called 'Arara do Alto Juruá' in the first half of 2001. This work will be carried out despite the opposition of Incra.

Brasília, 17 May 2001
Indianist Missionary Council - CIMI




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