Brasilia, 18 January 1993 - A Brazilian Federal judge,
Selene Maria de Almeida, of the 4th Federal Court in Brasilia-DF,
determined last Friday the immediate interdiction of all illegal
roads opened by logging companies inside Indigenous reservations
in South Para.
Judge Almeida, granted this preliminary injunction upon a
request from the Nucleus of Indigenous Rights (NDI), a NGO based
in Brasilia that participates in the coalition of over 70
Brazilian NGOs (including Greenpeace) against predatory logging
in Amazonia. This judicial lawsuit was against the logging
companies Perachi, Maginco and Impar, Funai (the Brazilian
Federal Agency for Indigenous Affairs) and Ibama (the Brazilian
Federal Agency for Environmental Protection).
The judicial decision also determines that the logging
companies take all their equipments, installations and employees
out of the Indigenous Reserves of Arawete, Apyterewa and
Trincheira Bacaja, within a 10-day deadline. The decision
established a daily fine of that the logging companies will have
to pay in case they do not meet this deadline, and determined
that the Federal Police arrests the owners of the logging
companies if don't comply with the judicial order. Funai and
Ibama also have a 10-day deadline to establish permanent
checkpoints in the places where the roads opened by logging
companies invade Indigenous territories, in order to prevent the
entrance of any unauthorized people or vehicles.
The legal suit filed by NDI also requests that the logging
companies Perachi, Impar and Maginco - this last one had one of
its sawmills in South Para occupied in a Greenpeace action last
November - be obliged to pay for all costs and expenses with the
elaboration and execution of an environmental recovery plan for
the devastated Indigenous areas.
The Indigenous areas Arawete, Apyterewa and Trincheira
Bacaja have 985.000, 980.000 and 1.655.000 hectares. The areas
Arawete and Apyterewa have already been delimited through an
administrative order of the Minister of Justice, and the area
Trincheira Bacaja has already been identified through an
administrative order of the President of Funai. The Arawete
Indians are 205 individuals, who live mainly from hunting and
fishing. The Parakana Indians, who live in the Apyterewa area,
are 156 individuals (according to Cedi, Centro Ecunico de
Documentaao e Informaao).
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Anna Fanzeres - TFC/Greenpeace Brazil
Kido Guerra - Media Coordinator/Greenpeace Brazil
55.21.2401690/2404476.