We are retransmitting CCPY's most recent report on the situation of
the Yanomami.
"Sao Paulo, 22 de abril de 1992.
CCPY
Update 55
POLITICS
Collor shuffles his cabinet
The president of Funai is confirmed in his post
In the first week of April the president of Brazil, Fernando Collor
de Mello, changed a considerable number of his cabinet ministers.
Jarbas Passarinho, in the Ministry of Justice, was one of those
replaced; he returned to the Senate. His replacement, the jurist Clio
Borja, confirmed Sydney Possuelo as president of the Fundao Nacional
do dndio (Funai).
At his first meeting with Clio Borja, Possuelo informed the
minister that Funai cannot continue to inspect indigenous lands for
lack of funds; the Ministry of the Economy cut the 1992 budget proposal
presented by Funai by 80%. The minister has not yet taken a position
on the matter.
Clio Borja is a jurist well known in Brazil. He is one of the
most prominent members of the "legalist" Center-Right political
current. Unlike Passarinho, who also acted as political coordinator of
the Collor administration, Borja will concentrate his attention in the
Ministry of Justice.
Shortage of funding will not directly affect the demarcation of
Yanomami territory, financed separately from the general Funai budget.
According to Funai, only 140 km. are left to demarcate and this
will be done by April, one month before planned.
However, President Collor still has to ratify the territory to
guarantee Yanomami landholding. He is expected to do so during the
UNCED in Rio de Janeiro this June.
CCPY
Staff tests ethno-linguistic manual
2
The Comisso Pela Criao do Parque Yanomami (CCPY) is continuing
to develop a basic communication manual with the Yanomami indians.
This ethno-linguistic study is being done by linguist Gale Gomez
and anthropologist Bruce Albert. For the first time, the CCPY received
project funding from a Brazilian company.
The manual contains the translation of words and phrases useful to
teams of anthropologists and health workers in the field.
One of the four Yanomami languages, spoken by a people that has no
written language, is being translated into Portuguese.
Gale Gomez and Bruce Albert are now in the indigenous areas testing
the manual for the first time to see whether it can make communication
more effective between the health teams and the indians.
HEALTH
Funai president visits the Fundao Nacional de Sa#de
Sydney Possuelo, the president of Funai, visited the Fundao
Nacional de Sa#de (National Health Foundation) on April 8, at the
invitation of the new president of the FNS, Joo Carlos Pinto Dias.
The invitation is a sign of closer ties between the two agencies; they
have had difficult bureaucratic relations.
In 1990 the FNS took responsibility for health work in the
indigenous areas previously under the responsibility of Funai. The
changeover and the different origins of the agencies (Funai is part of
the Ministry of Justice while the FNS reports to the Ministry of
Health) gave rise to a relationship that was difficult to administer.
A meeting between the two presidents had been suggested by the CCPY as
a means of improving relations of cooperation between the agencies.
As a sign of good will, the president of the FNS offered Funai
funding to hold a meeting of regional administrators after the Easter
holiday. The FNS will make a presentation of its work at the meeting.
The FNS will hire 153 people to work in the Yanomami indigenous
area through a process of public competition. These include health and
administrative personnel. Contracts will last for six months and may
be renewed for up to four years.
FNS opens an administrative enquiry and suspends coordinator in Roraima
The Fundao Nacional de Sa#de (National Health Foundation) that
oversees health work in indigenous territories opened an enquiry into
accusations of irregularities in the Regional Coordinator's Office in
Roraima.
The coordinator, Oneron de Abreu Pithan, was suspended from his job
on April 9 so that the FNS could investigate unhampered and without
embarrassment.
3
Medical doctor Joo Waldir Ferreira da Silva was appointed in
Pithan's place. Da Silva is a native of Roraima and related
politically to the governor of the State, Ottomar de Souza Pinto.
According to the FNS, the change of coordinator and the
investigations will not prejudice the health project currently under
way in the Special Yanomami Health District, where there continues to
be an alarming number of cases of malaria among indigenous people.
4
OUTLOOK
Shortage of funding paralyses Funai
Cabinet shuffle favors mining companies
Public expenditure cuts by President Collor have practically paralysed
Funai's inspection and territorial demarcation activities. The agency
had requested Cr$240 billion for 1992 and has received only Cr$3.5
billion, already spent.
All demarcation has stopped except that of Yanomami territory, funded
separately from Funai's general budget.
The new Minister of Justice, Clio Borja, sent a letter last week to
the Ministry of the Economy requesting disbursements to cover the
remainder of Funai's budget.
A halt has also been called to health work, including the Yanomami
Health Project, overseen by the FNS, which is linked the Ministry of
Health. The reason is that the new Minister of Health, Adib Jatene,
has set up enquiries into irregularities in bidding for public
contracts.
The new minister will probably improve FNS administrative standards.
There should be a salary increase and more highly-skilled personnel may
be hired. Bids to sell health supplies will be managed from Brasilia,
making them more reliable but slowing the process and making it more
bureaucratic.
New Ministers
The new Minister of Mines and Energy, Marcus Vin!cius Pratini de
Moraes, was Minister of Industry and Trade during the military
government of President Emilio Garrastazu Mdici. At that time, the
military promoted occupation of the Amazon, opening up roads and making
concessions of land to mining companies with no regard for indigenous
groups.
Minister of Education Jos Goldemberg, who is also interim Secretary of
the Environment (the position Lutzenberger had previously), has stated
several times that he is against the demarcation of Yanomami territory.
The appointment of political scientist Celso Lafer as Minister of
Foreign Relations must be seen in a positive light. Considered a
moderate, Lafer is one of a number of "eminent persons" in the Collor
administration and is open-minded on indigenous issues.
Comissao Pela Criao do Parque Yanomami - CCPY
Rua Manoel da Nobrega 111 cj.32
04001 Sao Paulo SP Brazil
Tel.: (55.11) 289-1200"