DEMARCATION OF YANOMAMI AREA IS HOMOLOGATED BUT
GOLD PROSPECTORS REMAIN IN IT AS INVADERS
At last it happend. On May 25th, the Brazilian presidente, Fernando Collor
de Mello, homologated the demarcation of the territory of the Yanomami Indians.
Through this act, the presidente of the Republic confirms the demarcation of a
9.6 million-hectare land area traditionally occupied by that people.
The homologation is taking concrete form twenty-four years after the first
proposal for the demarcation of the area was submitted to the government. Since
then, several other proposals were presented, but they never produced any
practical results, owing mainly to the location of the territory in question,
on the border between Brazil and Venezuela, and to the mineral potential of the
region. These two factors led military, political and economic sectors to join
efforts against the demarcation, which in practice postponed it for so many
years, jeopardizing the chances of survival of the Yanomami Indians.
However, the act of the president has not put an end to the problems which
are besetting the Yanomami Indians. According to FUNAI (National Indian
Foundation), at least 80 gold prospectors have not left the area and ten
clandestine runways are still in operation. Information provided by
missionaries indicate that the water of the Catrimani river, one of the most
important rivers in the Yanomami territory, have become muddy once again, which
is an evidence of the activity of gold prospectors there. Two aircraft fly over
the Paapiu region every day unloading food from the air for the gold
prospectors. The director of the Union of Gold Prospectors of Roraima, the
State where most Yanomami lands are located, has gone so far as to affirm that
"for as long as there are no jobs available to gold prospectors and a specific
area is not set apart for their prospecting activities, they will not give up
the riches of the Yanomami soil."
Differently from their initial posture in relation to the invasion,
however, the Yanomami Indians are now reacting against the presence of gold
prospectors in their lands. Last February, gold prospectors attacked Indians
from an ambush and five of them ended up being killed; two Yanomami Indians
were murdered in the ensuing conflict.
The work of health teams with the Yanomami, who are still suffering from
diseases brought by the invaders, has been adversely affected by new
difficulties. On May 14th, the Brazilian Air Force suspended the activities of
the helicopters that were being used to assist the teams in their needs,
preventing doctors and nurses from reaching more remote locations. The
situation led the office of the Attorney General to request explanations from
the Brazilian Air Force as to why that activity was suspended, but no reply
has been provided so far.
THE DEMARCATION IS NOT OVER
===========================
The homologation of the Yanomami area does not represent the end of the
land problem which the Indian peoples are facing in Brazil as a whole either.
In a letter delivered by Yanomami Indian Davi Kopenawa to presidente Fernando
Collor de Mello on the occasion of the ceremony for the signing of the
homologating decree it is written: "Demarcate their (other Indian peoples)
lands also. The lands of many of our Indian brothers have not been demarcated
so far."
Davi is right. Of the 510 Indian areas that have been inventoried all over
Brazil, only 195 have been homologated; the demarcation process has not even
begun in relation to 112 of them. If this situation remains unchanged. it is
likely that the Government will not comply with the deadline provided for in
the Brazilian Constitution - October of 1993 - for the demarcation of all
Indian lands in Brazil.
In addition to the lack of political will on the part of the federal
administration, no resources are available for the demarcation of these lands.
Of the 22 areas occupied by Indians declared as such last year, only four have
been demarcated by FUNAI so far; no funds were available to complete the work.
By homologating the Yanomami area, the Brazilian government hopes to gut
rid, during the Earth Summit, of critical remarks from foreign
environmentalists in relation to its Indianist policy, or rather in relation to
the nonexistence of an official Indianist policy. This is evinced by the fact
that from May 21 until June 3, a period coincinding with the eve and opening
of the Conference on Environment in Rio de Janeiro, the minister of Justice
signed an administrative rule declaring the Indian occupation and determining
the demarcation of 28 Indians areas. No one doubts that this measure is
necessary and important to he Indians, but it should have been taken longer
ago, considering that the demarcation processes were referred to the minister
last year.
Brasilia, June 5th, 1992
CIMI - Indianist Missionary Council