IPS-English BRAZIL: Indigenous People Fight for Their Rights Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2006 18:27:42 -0800 ROMAIPS LA PR IN DV HD=20 BRAZIL: Indigenous People Fight for Their Rights By Mario Osava RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 3 (IPS) - Land conflicts involving indigenous people=20 have multiplied in Brazil over the last few months, generating greater=20 tension and showing once again that the country's roughly 400,000 indigen= ous=20 people still have a long way to go to win respect for their rights. Hundreds of Tupinamb=E1 and Patax=F3 Indians occupied eight plots of land= last=20 week in Itaj=FA de Colonia, in the southern part of the northeastern Braz= ilian=20 state of Bah=EDa, in an attempt to recover property that they claim as th= eir=20 own, but which was rewarded to landowners in judicial decisions. The indigenous people, who complained that they had been the victims of=20 attacks, threatened to destroy power lines in their bid to reclaim their=20 land. Slightly farther to the south, in the state of Esp=EDritu Santo, around a= =20 dozen Indians were injured two weeks ago in a police operation that=20 destroyed two villages on land that is the focus of a legal dispute with = the=20 Aracruz cellulose company. Similar incidents have been seen in states ranging from the northernmost=20 stretches of Brazil=B4s Amazon jungle region to the southern state of San= ta=20 Catarina, where eight members of the Kaingang indigenous community were=20 thrown into jail in December, accused of property invasion and aggression= on=20 a rural estate. Compounding the problems over land disputes are reports of negligent medi= cal=20 care on the part of the governmental National Health Foundation, which=20 according to the Catholic Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) has alread= y=20 led to the deaths of 10 children this year in the central state of=20 Tocantins. The vice-president of CIMI, Saulo Feitosa, told IPS that 39 indigenous=20 people were murdered last year in Brazil by the police or landowners' hir= ed=20 gunmen, or in fights among indigenous people arising from their =94being=20 confined in small territories.=94 According to the group, a total of 241 members of indigenous communities=20 have been murdered in the past 10 years. CIMI also documented 136 deaths due to lack of medical attention, 44 due = to=20 child malnutrition, and 29 suicides in 2005. The proliferation throughout the country of land conflicts involving=20 indigenous people is a result of the government=B4s slow place in demarca= ting=20 indigenous reserves and ensuring their protection, said Feitosa. He pointed to cases like the Raposa Serra del Sol reserve in the northern= =20 state of Roraima, where the demarcation process has been completed, but=20 non-indigenous illegal occupants have not yet been removed from the=20 territory, which has led to the persistence of legal disputes and physica= l=20 attacks. Efforts by the government of leftist President Luiz In=E1cio Lula da Silv= a to=20 demarcate the pending areas are moving very slowly, at a rate of only six= =20 reserves a year, Feitosa complained. At this pace, he said, it will take 45 years to demarcate all of the=20 indigenous reserves, even though the president had promised to complete t= he=20 entire process by the end of his term, in December 2006. Reflecting the deterioration of relations between indigenous people and t= he=20 government, five anthropologists resigned from their jobs in the National= =20 Foundation for Indigenous People (FUNAI), the government agency in charge= of=20 indigenous policies, on Tuesday. They formed part of a 14-member council = of=20 advisers. In their letter of resignation, the anthropologists criticised the =94out= dated=20 concepts=94 that orient FUNAI's actions, such as classifying indigenous g= roups=20 as =94uncultured=94 or =94in the process of integration,=94 or seeing the= ir=20 =94absolutely legitimate grievances=94 as impertinent. Indigenous people in this country of 185 million have organised in the la= st=20 three decades, and have increasingly become a =94political force,=94 said= Rubem=20 de Almeida, one of the five anthropologists. They have developed =94specific strategies of struggle against incredibly= =20 strong forces,=94 like landowners, many of whom are members of state or=20 national parliaments, or large companies and corporations, he told IPS. With the weakening of the state, it has become more and more difficult to= =20 resolve land issues, as observed in the rise in deforestation in the Amaz= on=20 jungle and the growth of the movement of landless rural workers, he added= =2E That weakening was felt to an even greater degree in FUNAI, which in the=20 past had policing powers, its own health services, and backing from the=20 military, said the anthropologist. But while there are difficulties on the agrarian reform front, efforts at= =20 =94ethnodevelopment=94, encompassing assistance in education, agriculture= and=20 health tailored to indigenous groups in clearly demarcated reserves, can=20 produce good results, said de Almeida. He pointed to his experience with Guaran=ED Indians in Dourados, in the=20 southwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul, where indigenous children died = of=20 malnutrition last year. In that case, a committee made up of representatives of eight government=20 ministries has been successful in bringing about improvements, and in=20 extending the benefits to neighbouring areas as well. The government programmes involving the Guaran=ED, in which de Almeida ha= s=20 acted as an adviser, have shown that =94it is possible to transform the=20 reality of indigenous communities with few resources,=94 he said. But the anthropologist stressed that indigenous people cannot simply wait= =20 for mainstream society to become aware of their rights. Solutions, he sai= d,=20 will only come from their own initiative to change their relations with t= he=20 rest of society. The five anthropologists resigned in the midst of an outcry by indigenous= =20 organisations and indigenous rights groups over statements by FUNAI=20 president Mercio Pereira Gomes, who said the judicial system should set=20 limits to the territorial demands of indigenous groups, who in his view=20 already have too much land. Major indigenous demonstrations are scheduled for April, to coincide with= =20 FUNAI's National Conference for Indigenous Peoples. ***** + FUNAI - in Portuguese (http://www.funai.gov.br) +CIMI - in Portuguese (http://www.cimi.org.br) + RIGHTS-BRAZIL: No End to Violence against Indigenous People=20 (http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=3D28093) + RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Violence Stains National Day of Indigenous Peoples=20 (http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=3D23381) + BRAZIL: Lack of Land Rights is Killing Indigenous Children, Say Activis= ts=20 (http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=3D27858) (END/IPS/LA PR IN DV HD/TRASP-SW/MO/RP/06)=20 =20 =3D 02031853 ORP013 NNNN