Brazil's Indigenous Land Contestation
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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
9/6/96
OVERVIEW & SOURCE by EE
The saga of Brazilian government attempts to roll back indigeneous land
demarcation continues; with one challenge to the Raposa Serra do Sol
indigenous area in the state of Roraima at over 1,678,000 hectares. In
the "Brazilian Amazon alone the government threatens to roll back critical
legal protection for 177 indigenous areas in Brazil, covering 16.5 million
hectares." This Urgent Action Alert comes from the Environmental Defense
Fund and the Indigenous Council of Roraima from econet's rainfor.general
conference. Addresses were not included with the action alert, but are
provided by Ecological Enterprises at the items end.
Glen Barry
From: Kenneth Walsh
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 06:38:09 -0400
Subject: Urgent Alert: Raposa Serra do Sol Indigneous Area
Environmental Defense Fund
1875 Connecticut Avenue N.W. #1016
Washington, D.C. 20009; tel.: 202 387 3500; fax 202 234 6049;
edf@igc.apc.org
Attn: Rainforest/Indigenous Rights Activists
Two urgent alerts follow: the first is from Steve Schwartzman of EDF; the
second is from Josi Adalberto, Vice-Cooridinator of the Indigenous Council
of Roraima; please pass them onto appropriate staff in your organization.
Ken Walsh for EDF.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Area and Decree 1775: the fate
of 177 indigenous areas in Brazil hangs in the balance
The dispute over the 1,678,000 hectare Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous area,
in Roraima state in the Brazilian Amazon threatens to roll back critical
legal protection for 177 indigenous areas in Brazil, covering 16.5 million
hectares. Loss of legal protection would have drastic consequences for
Brazil's indigenous minority, as well as opening some of the few previously
protected areas in the Amazon to predatory exploitation. The conflict may
also undermine the credibility of Brazilian government claims that revision
of Indian land demarcation procedures (Decree 1775) sought to make the
demarcation process more efficient, not, as critics argued, to reduce the
area legally recognized by the government as Indian lands.
Over the last thirty years, indigenous groups in Brazil have won legal
protection for more than 900,000 square kilometers of land, almost all in
the Amazon. Regional elites and logging, mining and agribusiness interests
have consistently attempted to halt or impede the demarcation process, as
well as invading already demarcated areas. When, last January, the
government revised demarcation procedures to give states, counties and
private claimants the right to contest and potentially reduce already
demarcated Indian lands, the measure was widely denounced by indigenous
organizations as a maneuver to trade away Indian land for Congressional
support for Fernando Henrique Cardoso's stalled economic reform program.
The government insisted that the measure was merely intended to protect
Indian lands from legal challenge by safeguarding due process.
The demarcations of thirty-two areas were contested under Decree 1775, in
over 500 claims. Brazil's National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), duly rejected
all of the claims. By the law, the final decision rests with the Minister
of Justice, who in July rejected all but 8 claims. Among the most
contentious is Raposa Serra do Sol. Justice Minister Nelson Jobim will
issue a final decision on this area by October 10th. His decision will
substantially affect the future of Indian land yet to be demarc
.
Raposa Serra do Sol covers 1,678,000 hectares, and is inhabited by some
12,000 Macuxi, Wapixana, Ingariko and Taurepang Indians, on Brazil's border
with Guiana and Venezuela. The area includes mountain forest and tropical
savannah ecosystems. Parts of the area were invaded more than 20 years ago
by cattle ranchers who introduced alcohol and forced labor to the area, as
well as violently repressing Indian attempts at resistance. The situation
was exacerbated by invasions of gold and diamond miners particularly in the
1980s. The Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR), founded in 1987, emerged
from arduous local initiatives in the Raposa/Serra do Sol area over the
last twenty years to combat alcohol abuse, resist the appropriation of
traditional Indian lands, and provide services to local communities, with
support from the Catholic Church. Ranchers reacted with threats,
intimidation, and violence, and the area has become the scene of constant
conflict. Both Military Police and private gunmen typically act at the
ranchers' request. CIR now represents a majority of the villages in the
area, and through CIR's work, local communities have reoccupied many areas
formerly controlled by the ranchers.
It was in consequence of CIR's work that FUNAI finally in 1993 carried out
the identification of the area, the first step in the official recognition
process. The technical report on the area was approved by FUNAI and has
been awaiting approval of the Ministry of Justice for the last three years.
FUNAI rejected all of the challenges to the area as lacking technical
merit. The Justice Minister surprisingly requested further information on
the area, citing the existence of a county near the boundaries of Raposa
Serra do Sol. Minister Jobim has stated that he will visit the area to hear
the opinion of the communities before reaching a decision, but repeatedly
put off the visit.
CIR and indigenous rights organizations in Brazil are gravely concerned
with these developments. It is well known in the region that since the
identification was carried out the state government has invested heavily in
dividing the indigenous communities along religious lines, furnishing goods
and services exclusively to villages with marked presence of evangelical
Protestants, and threatening to cut off support in the event of the
demarcation of a continuous area. Worse still is the Oct. 3 election for
the creation of a county in the area. The law that created the new
municipality is unconstitutional, in that indigenous lands are
inalienable according to Article 231 of the Constitution of 1988. A county
seat cannot legally be located on Indian land. The purpose of the election
is to lend the appearance of legitimacy to a land grab. The supposed county
seat is in fact a decaying relic of the gold boom.
There are thus strong indications that the Minister intends to reduce the
area. To do so would be to subvert the criteria of the Decree he himself
promulgated, since the technical report on which the boundaries of the area
is, according to the brief of the Federal Attorney General's Office, fully
in accordance with Constitutional requirements for indigenous land
demarcation.
What is at stake in the Raposa Serra do Sol case is nothing less than the
future of the 16.5 million hectares that await identification in Brazil.
All of these areas will be open to challenge under the decree. If the
Minister reduces Raposa/Serra do Sol it will be on political grounds and
not according to the technical criteria of Decree 1775, and once the
political interests of the privileged elite take precedence over the law,
there will be no going back. This indeed appears to be what the rumored
deals in the back halls of the Brazilian Congress are about: starting the
process of rolling back indigenous lands in Brazil.
________________________________________________________________________
Date: 09/06/96 10:17:05 AM
From: isadf @ ax.apc.org (Nilto Tato) @ net
To: wild @ edf.org @ net
cc: amazoncoal @ igc.apc.org @ net
Subject: CIR statement
Raposa/Serra do Sol Runs Risk of Reduction
The deadline established by Decree 1775 for Justice Minister Nelson Jobim
to present his decisions on the challenges to ongoing demarcations of
indigenous lands, including Raposa Serra do Sol in Roraima, was last July
10. Although the decree, written by the Minister himself, stipulates that
these decisions should be justified, Jobim determined that the Raposa/Serra
do Sol case and those of seven other areas return to FUNAI in order that
"new proceedings" be carried out without explaining the motives and
obejctives of this decision. A note distributed by his staff mentioned that
the town of Normandia forms an enclave between the indigenous land and the
Guiana border. This indicates probable intent to review the boundaries
identifed by FUNAI and sent to the Ministry of Justice more than three
years ago.
The minister has stated that he intends to visit Roraima and the indigenous
area before taking his decision with regard to the demarcation. But he
continues to delay this visit, while the decree establishes a limit of 90
days to do the new proceedings, which falls on October 10. It is unclear
whether or not the delay is related to the municipal elections to occurr on
October 3.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that elections are planned to
establish the administrative center of a pseudo-municipality, recently
created without Constitutional basis, within the indigenous area, in a gold
boom town.
Last August 30, the President of FUNAI Julio Gaiger, at a seminar in
Manaus, afirmed that the anthropological report (laudo antropologico) that
is the basis of the demarcation procedure, although well done, was open to
question. The anthropolgical and legal documentation of the Raposa Serra do
Sol demarcation case is among the best. It is a matter of consensus that
this issue depends entirely on the will and political courage of the
federal government.
Considering the successive delays of the Minister's decision, and the
negative signals sent by the Minister of Justice and presidency of FUNAI,
the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) manifests its extreme concern with
the risk that the Raposa Serra do Sol indigneous area be reduced by
Minister Jobim, and with the concrete fact of the intensification of
conflicts between Indians and invaders, since the latter are encouraged by
the procrastination, vacillation, and manipulation of facts with
respect to the demarcation on the part of the government. CIR will hold a
demonstration on September 16 in Boa Vista, Roraima and calls on all of the
allies of the indigenous peoples, within Brazil and internationallly, to
reinforce their support for the demarcation of the entire Raposa/Serra do
Sol Indigenous Area, and to express their support for an immediate and just
decision by the
Minister of Justice.
Boa Vista, September 5, 1996
Josi Adalberto Vice-Coordinator,
CIR
LETTER WRITING CONTACTS
PLEASE FAX, OR WRITE President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, with copy
to Minister Jobim, calling for the demarcation of the continuous Raposa
Serra do Sol area.
Exmo. Sr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Jobim Presidente da Republica
Palacio do Planalto
Brasilia - DF- 70150-900
Brazil
fax - 55-61-226-7566
Emxo. Sr. Nelson
Ministro da Justica
Esplanada dos Ministerios- Bl.T
Brasilia - DF - 70064-900
Brazil
fax - 55-61-224-2448
You are encouraged to utilize this information for personal campaign use;
including writing letters, organizing campaigns and forwarding. All
efforts are made to provide accurate, timely pieces; though ultimate
responsibility for verifying all information rests with the reader. Check
out our Gaia Forest Conservation Archives at URL=
http://forests.org/gaia.html
Networked by:
Ecological Enterprises
Email (best way to contact)-> grbarry@students.wisc.edu
OVERVIEW & SOURCE by EE
The saga of Brazilian government attempts to roll back indigeneous land
demarcation continues; with one challenge to the Raposa Serra do Sol
indigenous area in the state of Roraima at over 1,678,000 hectares. In
the "Brazilian Amazon alone the government threatens to roll back critical
legal protection for 177 indigenous areas in Brazil, covering 16.5 million
hectares." This Urgent Action Alert comes from the Environmental Defense
Fund and the Indigenous Council of Roraima from econet's rainfor.general
conference. Addresses were not included with the action alert, but are
provided by Ecological Enterprises at the items end.
Glen Barry
From: Kenneth Walsh
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 06:38:09 -0400
Subject: Urgent Alert: Raposa Serra do Sol Indigneous Area
Environmental Defense Fund
1875 Connecticut Avenue N.W. #1016
Washington, D.C. 20009; tel.: 202 387 3500; fax 202 234 6049;
edf@igc.apc.org
Attn: Rainforest/Indigenous Rights Activists
Two urgent alerts follow: the first is from Steve Schwartzman of EDF; the
second is from Josi Adalberto, Vice-Cooridinator of the Indigenous Council
of Roraima; please pass them onto appropriate staff in your organization.
Ken Walsh for EDF.
---------------------------------------------------------
The Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Area and Decree 1775: the fate
of 177 indigenous areas in Brazil hangs in the balance
The dispute over the 1,678,000 hectare Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous area,
in Roraima state in the Brazilian Amazon threatens to roll back critical
legal protection for 177 indigenous areas in Brazil, covering 16.5 million
hectares. Loss of legal protection would have drastic consequences for
Brazil's indigenous minority, as well as opening some of the few previously
protected areas in the Amazon to predatory exploitation. The conflict may
also undermine the credibility of Brazilian government claims that revision
of Indian land demarcation procedures (Decree 1775) sought to make the
demarcation process more efficient, not, as critics argued, to reduce the
area legally recognized by the government as Indian lands.
Over the last thirty years, indigenous groups in Brazil have won legal
protection for more than 900,000 square kilometers of land, almost all in
the Amazon. Regional elites and logging, mining and agribusiness interests
have consistently attempted to halt or impede the demarcation process, as
well as invading already demarcated areas. When, last January, the
government revised demarcation procedures to give states, counties and
private claimants the right to contest and potentially reduce already
demarcated Indian lands, the measure was widely denounced by indigenous
organizations as a maneuver to trade away Indian land for Congressional
support for Fernando Henrique Cardoso's stalled economic reform program.
The government insisted that the measure was merely intended to protect
Indian lands from legal challenge by safeguarding due process.
The demarcations of thirty-two areas were contested under Decree 1775, in
over 500 claims. Brazil's National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), duly rejected
all of the claims. By the law, the final decision rests with the Minister
of Justice, who in July rejected all but 8 claims. Among the most
contentious is Raposa Serra do Sol. Justice Minister Nelson Jobim will
issue a final decision on this area by October 10th. His decision will
substantially affect the future of Indian land yet to be demarcated.
Raposa Serra do Sol covers 1,678,000 hectares, and is inhabited by some
12,000 Macuxi, Wapixana, Ingariko and Taurepang Indians, on Brazil's border
with Guiana and Venezuela. The area includes mountain forest and tropical
savannah ecosystems. Parts of the area were invaded more than 20 years ago
by cattle ranchers who introduced alcohol and forced labor to the area, as
well as violently repressing Indian attempts at resistance. The situation
was exacerbated by invasions of gold and diamond miners particularly in the
1980s. The Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR), founded in 1987, emerged
from arduous local initiatives in the Raposa/Serra do Sol area over the
last twenty years to combat alcohol abuse, resist the appropriation of
traditional Indian lands, and provide services to local communities, with
support from the Catholic Church. Ranchers reacted with threats,
intimidation, and violence, and the area has become the scene of constant
conflict. Both Military Police and private gunmen typically act at the
ranchers' request. CIR now represents a majority of the villages in the
area, and through CIR's work, local communities have reoccupied many areas
formerly controlled by the ranchers.
It was in consequence of CIR's work that FUNAI finally in 1993 carried out
the identification of the area, the first step in the official recognition
process. The technical report on the area was approved by FUNAI and has
been awaiting approval of the Ministry of Justice for the last three years.
FUNAI rejected all of the challenges to the area as lacking technical
merit. The Justice Minister surprisingly requested further information on
the area, citing the existence of a county near the boundaries of Raposa
Serra do Sol. Minister Jobim has stated that he will visit the area to hear
the opinion of the communities before reaching a decision, but repeatedly
put off the visit.
CIR and indigenous rights organizations in Brazil are gravely concerned
with these developments. It is well known in the region that since the
identification was carried out the state government has invested heavily in
dividing the indigenous communities along religious lines, furnishing goods
and services exclusively to villages with marked presence of evangelical
Protestants, and threatening to cut off support in the event of the
demarcation of a continuous area. Worse still is the Oct. 3 election for
the creation of a county in the area. The law that created the new
municipality is unconstitutional, in that indigenous lands are
inalienable according to Article 231 of the Constitution of 1988. A county
seat cannot legally be located on Indian land. The purpose of the election
is to lend the appearance of legitimacy to a land grab. The supposed county
seat is in fact a decaying relic of the gold boom.
There are thus strong indications that the Minister intends to reduce the
area. To do so would be to subvert the criteria of the Decree he himself
promulgated, since the technical report on which the boundaries of the area
is, according to the brief of the Federal Attorney General's Office, fully
in accordance with Constitutional requirements for indigenous land
demarcation.
What is at stake in the Raposa Serra do Sol case is nothing less than the
future of the 16.5 million hectares that await identification in Brazil.
All of these areas will be open to challenge under the decree. If the
Minister reduces Raposa/Serra do Sol it will be on political grounds and
not according to the technical criteria of Decree 1775, and once the
political interests of the privileged elite take precedence over the law,
there will be no going back. This indeed appears to be what the rumored
deals in the back halls of the Brazilian Congress are about: starting the
process of rolling back indigenous lands in Brazil.
___________________________________________________________________
Date: 09/06/96 10:17:05 AM
From: isadf @ ax.apc.org (Nilto Tato) @ net
To: wild @ edf.org @ net
cc: amazoncoal @ igc.apc.org @ net
Subject: CIR statement
Raposa/Serra do Sol Runs Risk of Reduction
The deadline established by Decree 1775 for Justice Minister Nelson Jobim
to present his decisions on the challenges to ongoing demarcations of
indigenous lands, including Raposa Serra do Sol in Roraima, was last July
10. Although the decree, written by the Minister himself, stipulates that
these decisions should be justified, Jobim determined that the Raposa/Serra
do Sol case and those of seven other areas return to FUNAI in order that
"new proceedings" be carried out without explaining the motives and
obejctives of this decision. A note distributed by his staff mentioned that
the town of Normandia forms an enclave between the indigenous land and the
Guiana border. This indicates probable intent to review the boundaries
identifed by FUNAI and sent to the Ministry of Justice more than three
years ago.
The minister has stated that he intends to visit Roraima and the indigenous
area before taking his decision with regard to the demarcation. But he
continues to delay this visit, while the decree establishes a limit of 90
days to do the new proceedings, which falls on October 10. It is unclear
whether or not the delay is related to the municipal elections to occurr on
October 3.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that elections are planned to
establish the administrative center of a pseudo-municipality, recently
created without Constitutional basis, within the indigenous area, in a gold
boom town.
Last August 30, the President of FUNAI Julio Gaiger, at a seminar in
Manaus, afirmed that the anthropological report (laudo antropologico) that
is the basis of the demarcation procedure, although well done, was open to
question. The anthropolgical and legal documentation of the Raposa Serra do
Sol demarcation case is among the best. It is a matter of consensus that
this issue depends entirely on the will and political courage of the
federal government.
Considering the successive delays of the Minister's decision, and the
negative signals sent by the Minister of Justice and presidency of FUNAI,
the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) manifests its extreme concern with
the risk that the Raposa Serra do Sol indigneous area be reduced by
Minister Jobim, and with the concrete fact of the intensification of
conflicts between Indians and invaders, since the latter are encouraged by
the procrastination, vacillation, and manipulation of facts with
respect to the demarcation on the part of the government. CIR will hold a
demonstration on September 16 in Boa Vista, Roraima and calls on all of the
allies of the indigenous peoples, within Brazil and internationallly, to
reinforce their support for the demarcation of the entire Raposa/Serra do
Sol Indigenous Area, and to express their support for an immediate and just
decision by the
Minister of Justice.
Boa Vista, September 5, 1996
Josi Adalberto Vice-Coordinator,
CIR
LETTER WRITING CONTACTS
PLEASE FAX, OR WRITE President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, with copy
to Minister Jobim, calling for the demarcation of the continuous Raposa
Serra do Sol area.
Exmo. Sr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Jobim Presidente da Republica
Palacio do Planalto
Brasilia - DF- 70150-900
Brazil
fax - 55-61-226-7566
Emxo. Sr. Nelson
Ministro da Justica
Esplanada dos Ministerios- Bl.T
Brasilia - DF - 70064-900
Brazil
fax - 55-61-224-2448
You are encouraged to utilize this information for personal campaign use;
including writing letters, organizing campaigns and forwarding. All
efforts are made to provide accurate, timely pieces; though ultimate
responsibility for verifying all information rests with the reader. Check
out our Gaia Forest Conservation Archives at URL=
http://forests.org/gaia.html
Networked by:
Ecological Enterprises
Email (best way to contact)-> grbarry@students.wisc.edu
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