News-Letter Nr. 462

Meeting of Indigenous People on the Bananal Island

Apinaje, Krahô, Xerente, Tapuia, and Karajá leaders will meet on May 24-28 at the Boto Velho village on the Bananal Island to discuss the impacts of large development projects on indigenous areas located in the region. This will be the first of a series of meetings to be held in the states of Goiás and Tocantins. Meetings are scheduled to take place in June in the Tapuia (Goiás), Xerente and Apinajé (Tocantins) villages for these indigenous peoples to resume this discussion and define a common position in relation to the problems caused by these large projects.

The indigenous peoples of this region are suffering the effects of activities ranging from the construction of hydroelectric power plants to waterways (like the Tocantins-Araguaia waterway), ecotourism initiatives, transposition of river waters, and extensive soybean plantations that can directly or indirectly affect these indigenous communities. Most of these projects are contemplated in the "Brazil in action" program developed by the administration of president Fernando Henrique Cardoso and have specific funds earmarked for them in the federal budget and under multilateral agreements signed with the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Conservation Units

The encroachment of conservation units upon indigenous areas will also be discussed, and for this reason Pataxó representatives will be attending the meeting to provide an account of their resistance after they reoccupied the Pascoal Mount area in the state of Bahia in 1999. In the state of Tocantins, part of the Boto Velho indigenous area, where the Karajá and the Javaé live, has been encroached upon by the Araguaia National Park (where the Bananal Island is also located). Both for the Pascoal Mount and the Bananal Island, the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) supports a 'joint management' proposal, which is unconstitutional and restricts the right of usufruct and permanent possession of the land by indigenous peoples. This has created tension between indigenous people and environmentalists. Like the Pataxó, the Javaé and Karajá want the land to be demarcated as an indigenous area and resent Ibama's presence in it. The exchange of resistance experiences will favor the struggle of indigenous peoples against the encroachment of conservation units upon indigenous areas in various regions.

Xukuru Reaffirm Commitment to Indigenous Resistance

The first assembly of the Xukuru indigenous people, held on May 18-20, produced a strong document emphasizing their commitment to fight for their rights and for the definitive regularization of their territory. The assembly strengthened the indigenous movement internally and was a moment of celebration of the homologation of their land early this month. About 200 leaders representing the 23 villages of the community reviewed in detail the historical struggle of the Xukuru to reoccupy their territory (27,555 hectares) and their organization for this purpose. In these territorial reoccupation actions, José Everaldo Rodrigues Bispo, a member of the community, was killed in 1993, as well as lawyer Geraldo Rolim da Mota Filho in 1995 and chief Francisco de Assis Araújo (Xicão Xukuru) in May 1998.

In the final document of the assembly, the Xukuru say that 'in this assembly we have proven that the death of our chief has served to strengthen our struggle and not to weaken us, as his murderers imagined. His blood fertilized the land where our warriors continue to be born and to grow and reproduce. The notion of freedom, justice, courage and solidarity of our leader is in the blood that flows in our veins.' On May 20, over 3,000 people took part in a public demonstration with the Xukuru in the downtown area of Pesqueira to protest against the murder of chief Xicão four years ago.

Brasília, 24 May 2001
Indianist Missionary Council - Cimi

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