by ricardo de bittencourt
rio de janeiro, aug 26 (ips) -- the recent massacre of yanomami
indians has placed the spotlight on the absence of a policy that
ensures the survival of brazil's amerindians even though their
land rights have been recognised by officialdom.
amerindian defence groups had banked on the creation of
extensive territorial reserves as the means of guaranteeing the
conditions needed for the survival of the social and economic
structures of brazil's indigenous peoples.
but the massacre, in which about 70 people died, according to
the national indian foundation (funai), has shown that mapping
out reserves is not enough.
''how can the government create such extensive reserves and
not have the least possibility to watch over those who enter
them, those who leave and what they did while they were there?''
asked jader barbalho, governor of the amazonian state of para.
his administration has been at loggerheads with the central
government over the demarcation of a reserve of more than six
million hectares (60,000 sq.km.) for the some 600 cayapo
amerindians.
barbalho said that creating the reserve in his state would
spark conflict with landowners and tenants who have been in the
area for a long time. ''we are afraid for the consequences, which
are almost always violent, of the conflicts that will break out
there,'' he said.
state officials, landowners, big business and the military
have all been opposing the recognition of amerindian lands.
however, justice minister mauricio correa, who says he has the
constitution on his side, has continued the demarcation ''with
scientific and anthropological criteria of land that has belonged
to the amerindians since time immemorial.''
it was these criteria that were used as the basis for awarding
the yanomami a 90,000 sq.km. territory two years ago.
however, it has been clear since then that the government is
in no position to watch over the territory.
responding to an accusation that the government erred by
omission in the case of the yanomami massacre, correa said the
administration had nothing to reproach itself about.
''what exists is the lack of an adequate structure of the
state, not the government. conditions must be created to maintain
the integrity of indigenous lands,'' he said. (more)
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for four years now, repeated operations by the military and
police, dubbed 'operation free forest,' have been necessary to
chase gold miners from the yanomami territory, but have failed to
keep them out permanently.
some amerindians help the miners to escape the sporadic police
checks, in exchange for food and gifts. contact with whites has
accustomed the indians to certain goods, from knives and machetes
to deodorant and perfumes, which they can only obtain from
westernised brazilians.
overshadowed by the repercussions of the yanomami massacre, a
virtual declaration of war in the third week of august by the
cayapo indians against the national environment institute (ibama)
went almost unnoticed.
the bone of contention was the seizure by ibama of some 5,000
trunks of mahogany in the xingu river, southern para, near two
cayapo villages.
although trading in mahogany is illegal, white traders pay the
indians bounties for the logs and the cayapo protested strongly
against the seizure.
''the indians there (in the two villages) do not know it, but
we know very well that no one can enter the reservation without
an authorisation. if the ibama inspectors come here they will not
leave and there will be war,'' threatened pedro tabo caiapo,
headman of another cayapo village.
''what many well-intentioned people sitting behind their desks
fail to realise is that the indigenous communities are surrounded
by the market economy and immersed in a world that offers
attractions that any human being longs for,'' said jose altino
machado.
machado, who resigned last week as head of the roraima
goldminers in protest against the yanomami massacre, is an
oldtimer in the amazon, where he has been digging for gold for 20
years now.
he says he has always worked in contact with the indians, but
such contacts rarely occur in conditions that help to preserve
the integrity and lifestyle of the amerindians.
jose carlos medeiros, a surveyor who participated in the
recent demarcation of the cayapo reserve, said he ''saw indians
in the curua charge illegal gold-diggers five to ten grammes of
gold to enter their lands and gold only has value outside their
reserve.''
amazonian politicians say they do not oppose land rights for
the amerindians but that the territories awarded to them are too
big.
the governor of the state of amazonas, gilberto mestrinho,
said ''we are not against the demarcation of the reserves. we are
opposed to their exaggerated size and to the fact that they
include mineral reserves that we cannot stop exploiting.''
''that hinders economic development and creates conflict
situations that cause violence and death, when the only
alternative is illegal exploitation.''
''we cannot forget that we have a multitude of poor people
seeking ways of surviving. we all have the same rights,''
mestrinho said. (end/ips/trd/so/rb-ls/kb/93)
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[c] 1993, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)
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