Army troops supporting federal police are moving in on the small
Kayapo Indian village of Aukre in the northern part of Brazilian
Amazon in hopes of apprehending Paulinho Paiakan - the young
Kayapo chief who has been accused of raping and torturing an 18
year old Brazilian girl. Paiakan has denied that he raped the
girl and refuses to turn himself in to Brazilian authorities.
Kayapo warriors from villages surrounding Aukre have come to
Paiakan's defense and vow not to allow Paiakan's be taken. Paiakan
himself is reported to be hiding somewhere in the forest.
Sources in Redencao, the Brazilian town where Police and press are
gathering, fear that there will be violence before the situation
is resolved.
For those of you who are not familiar with Paiakan, here is a
brief overview:
Paiakan was born in the Kayapo village of Gorotire that rests on
the Rio Fresco, a tributary of the Amazon about 600 miles from the
port city of Belem.
At the age of fifteen, Paiakan left his village to go live among
the whites. After learning Portuguese from some missionaries,
Paiakan took a job on the Trans-Amazonia highway working as a
scout. His job was to contact those natives who were living in the
road's path and help persuade them to move out of the way with the
usual promise of gifts as reward. As time passed, however,
Paiakan, watched how the road builder destroyed many villages and
didn't live up to the promises that were made to the villagers...
Then, one of the foremen that was working with Paiakan gave the
young man some advice. He told Paiakan that what was happening to
all these small villages would some day happen to Paiakan's own
village unless Paiakan went back and warned his people what was
coming.
Paiakan returned to his village and began to tell the elders what
he had seen and heard. At first they didn't take his stories
seriously, but as the smell of smoke from slash and burning began
to filter into village, things began to change.
The first attempts to prevent white settlers from invading the
forest were bloody and sensational, but as time past, Paiakan
began to preach the power of the word over the war club. With his
words, Paiakan was able to prevent the Brazilian government from
using Kayapo land as nuclear waste dump, have 5000- gold miners
removed from Kayapo territory, and cancel a 10.5 billion dollar
world bank loan for a dam that would have flooded a majority of
the Kayapo territory. This last feat was achieved when Paiakan
personally traveled to the world bank in Washington D.C. and
presented himself to the officials in full Kayapo dress. As the
officials sat in wide eyed amazement, Paiakan passionately
informed them of what great harm they were about to cause. "If you
build this dam, you will kill my people," he said. "So, why don't
you start here and kill me first."
Some members of the Brazilian government were enraged by Paiakan's
actions in Washington. As soon as Paiakan returned to Brazil, he
was ordered to stand trial for denigrating the image of Brazil -
which is a federal offense under what is known as the Law of
Foreigners. In other words, Paiakan was going to be tried as a
foreigner.
Despite many acts of intimidation and threats of violence, Paiakan
struck back by organizing the largest gathering of Indians ever
held in February 1989 at Alta Mira, a small delta town in the
Amazon not far from where the dam was to be built. The event
ended up drawing so much international media attention that
Brazilian officials dropped the court case against Paiakan and the
World Bank quietly cancelled the loan for the Dam complex.
In 1990, Paiakan was awarded with a global 500 from the United
Nations for his accomplishments. He is now estimated to be 38
Years old.
The current situation surrounding Paiakan will certainly be his
greatest test to date. Some sources close to the story speculate
that these current events stem from an illegal sterilization of
Paiakan's wife at the hands of a doctor who Paiakan is presently
suing. According to Paiakan, this same doctor has persuaded the
young girl in question to claim she was raped by Paiakan.
For more information, please contact William Daily (bill@igc.org).