Hi everyone,
Please find below an urgent appeal concerning the Guarani-Kaiowa indigenous community in southwestern Brazil. A sample letter follows below. Please send appeals as quickly as possible.
Kim
Essential accents for this email version:
/ on second a in Kaiowa
/ on a in Marcio (Minister of Justice)
/ on e in Mercio (President of FUNAI)
/ on e in Jose; / on first i in Orcirio
~ over a in Leao (Ambassador)
PUBLIC
AI Index: AMR 19/001/2005
UA 13/05
Fear for Safety
18 January 2005
BRAZIL
400 members of the Guarani-Kaiowa Indigenous Community in Cerro
Marangatu
Some 400 members of the Guarani-Kaiowa indigenous community
are facing eviction from farm land in southwestern Brazil
that they occupied after it was allocated to them by the
government. The community will be left destitute, and have
threatened to commit mass suicide. The eviction, ordered by
a court early this year, is believed to be scheduled for 20
January. Police and others have previously used excessive
force in carrying out similar eviction orders.
The small area the community have occupied, in Cerro
Marangatu, Antonio Joao municipality, Mato Grosso do Sul
state, was demarcated as indigenous territory in October
2004. This is the penultimate step in the return of
indigenous land from private landowners, and the community
now awaits final ratification of the territory by
Presidential decree. Since 1998, the community have been
crammed into a 26-hectare area of farmland that they
occupied peacefully in an attempt to speed up the painfully
slow transfer process.
After the demarcation of the area, they occupied a larger
piece of land, which they planted with their traditional
crops of corn, manioc, beans, potatoes, rice and bananas.
The corn crop is now almost ready to harvest. In a 7
January public statement, the community said, 'We heard it
said that the police are coming with a tractor to destroy
everything. We would like to know who is going to feed our
children... We would like to let the police know that we are
not leaving. This is final. We are not leaving the land
alive.'
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Some 27,000 Guarani Indians, divided into the Kaiowa and
Nhandeva communities, live in the state of Mato Grosso do
Sul. The Brazilian authorities have recognised 25
indigenous areas totalling 40,000 hectares, and there is
severe overcrowding in many reserves. Peasants and
indigenous people who occupy land peacefully are often
violently evicted. In January 2003, 72-year-old Guarani-
Kaiowa leader Marcos Veron led a small group in an attempt
to peacefully reoccupy a small area of the Takuara
indigenous territory in Mato Grosso do Sul. He was severely
beaten by a group of men reportedly made up of farm
labourers and hired thugs, and died two days later. In
April 1996 military police killed 19 landless peasants
while clearing them from a road in Eldorado dos Carajas, in
Para state.
There has been a dramatic rise in the incidence of suicide
in the Guarani population in Matto Grosso do Sul since the
early 1990s. The government health agency FUNASA reported
that 199 Guarani committed suicide during the years 2000 to
2003, the majority of them in their teens or early
twenties. In proportion to the Guarani population in the
state, this constitutes one of the highest suicide rates in
the world.
Brazil's 1988 constitution called for demarcation of all
Indian lands by 1993, a goal which the Brazilian
authorities are still far from reaching. The slow pace of
demarcation and resolution of disputes over indigenous
lands only serves to increase the vulnerability of Indians.
Earlier this year, the Minister of Justice reportedly said
that all indigenous lands would be demarcated by the end of
2006.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as
quickly as possible, in Portuguese or your own language and
using your own words:
- expressing concern for the safety of some 400 Guarani-
Kaiowa Indians in the Cerro Marangatu, Antonio Joao, Mato
Grosso do Sul state, after a court ordered them to be
evicted;
- urging the authorities to bear in mind when they resolve
this dispute that the community's crops, which are their
main source of food, are close to harvest, and that they
have threatened to commit mass suicide unless they are left
in peace;
- urging the authorities to ensure that all possible steps
are taken to avoid violence and loss of life;
- calling on the authorities to ratify the territory of
Cerro Marangatu, and demarcate and ratify all other
indigenous territories in Mato Grosso do Sul that have not
yet been demarcated;
- urging the authorities to resolve this dispute while
adhering to international standards that safeguard the
basic rights of indigenous peoples.
APPEALS TO:
Exmo. Ministro da Justica da Republica Federativa do Brasil
Dr. Marcio Thomaz Bastos
Ministerio da Justica
Esplanada dos Ministerios, Bloco T
70712-902 - Brasilia - DF, Brasil
Fax: + 55 61 322 6817
Salutation: Vossa Excelencia
President of FUNAI (Government Agency for Indigenous
People):
Exmo. Presidente da FUNAI
Mercio Pereira Gomes
SEPS Quadra 902/702 - Bloco. A
Ed. Lex - 3o Andar
70340-904 - Brasilia -- DF, Brasil
Fax: + 55 61 226 8782
Salutation: Exmo. Sr Presidente
Mato Grosso do Sul State Governor:
Exmo. Governador do Estado do Mato Grosso do Sul
Sr. Jose Orcirio Miranda dos Santos
Parque dos Poderes - Bloco 8
79031-902 - Campo Grande -- MS, Brasil
Fax: + 55 67 318 1120
Salutation: Vossa Excelencia
COPIES TO:
His Excellency Valdemar CARNEIRO LEAO
Ambassador for the Federative Republic of Brazil
450 Wilbrod Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6M8
Fax: (613) 237-6144
E-mail: mailbox@brasembottawa.org
Thank you for being at the ready to respond to this case
with urgency.
____________________________
Kathy Price & Marilyn McKim
Urgent Action Network Coordinators
Amnesty International Canada
56 Temperance St., 8th Floor
Toronto, ON. M5H 3V5
Tel: (416) 363-9933, ext. 22
Fax: (416) 363-3103
Sample letter
January 20, 2005
Exmo. Ministro da Justica da Republica Federativa do Brasil
Dr. Marcio Thomaz Bastos
Ministerio da Justica
Esplanada dos Ministerios, Bloco T
70712-902 - Brasilia - DF, Brasil
Fax: + 55 61 322 6817
Vossa Excelencia,
I am writing to express concern for the safety of some 400 Guarani-Kaiowa Indians in the Cerro Marangatu, Antonio Joao, Mato Grosso do Sul state, after a court ordered them to be evicted.
I urge you to bear in mind, as this dispute is resolved, that the community's crops, which are their main source of food, are close to harvest. The community has threatened to commit mass suicide unless they are left in peace.
I urge you to ensure that all possible steps are taken to avoid violence and loss of life, call on you to ratify the territory of Cerro Marangatu, and demarcate and ratify all other indigenous territories in Mato Grosso do Sul that have not yet been demarcated.
I write task you to resolve this dispute while adhering to international standards that safeguard the basic rights of indigenous peoples.
Yours sincerely