The disappearance of Indian Ze Novo a few weeks ago increased the
tension in the Xukuru Kariri community, located in Palmeira dos
indios, state of Alagoas. According to local leaders, Ze Novo left his
home on the 22nd of February to get a payment and did not return. The
community suspects that he was murdered for political reasons, as he
played a prominent role in the occupation of the Mata da Giboia and
Brejinho areas in August of last year. Last week, IBAMA (Brazilian
Environment Institute) seized tools that were being used by farmer
Helio Alves in illegal land clearing activities in Indian land and
formally charged him by notification. The institute seized the
hardwood that was being taken from the land and roped off the area.
Resenting the action, Alves developed the habit of shooting into the
air to intimidate the Indians. Both the Indians and CIMI (Indianist
Missionary Council) have been receiving constant threats, and no one
can tell where this situation will lead to.
The Federal Police are in the area to investigate the
disappearance of Indians Ze Novo. The community is worried and asked
them to seize weapons of local farmers as the only way to avoid
bloodshed. It is the second time that local farmers try to prevent the
demarcation of Indian lands by intimidating Indians and their
supporters. Also this year, chief Luzanel Ricardo was killed as a
result of this conflict, and his murderers have not been puniched, in
spite of all pressures from CIMI and the East-Northeast Indigenous
Commission for them to be prosecuted. Studies carried out by FUNAI
have confirmed that the lands in question have been traditionally
occupied by the Xukuru Kariri, and that procedures to formally
demarcate them began in 1989. Altogether, the land comprises 13
thousand hectares forming a continuous area.
Acts aimed at intimidating missionaries and Indians are frequent.
On the Women's International Day, several female Indians who were
taking part in a demonstration in Palmeira dos Indios were surrounded
and followed by farmers. Two missionaries, Prazeres Amorim and Socorro
Souza, from CIMI Nordeste, had a talk on the phone interrupted by a
stranger's voice saying ''stop trying to take the land of other people
to give it to Indians'', corroborating suspicions that the telephone
lines used by CIMI and the East-Northeast Commission have been bugged.
The Indians are on the alert and mobilized, as there is no
solution in sight for the problem. Farmers ostensibly continue to
incite the population against them. A delegation of Xukuru Kariri will
be in Brasilia as of the 19th for audiences with FUNAI and the
Ministry of Justice to demand a more effective solution to the
conflict. They also want to ensure the setting up of a much-promised
FUNAI Working Group, which may represent an important step toward
definitively ensuring the demarcation of the Area.
Brasilia, March 15th, 1995.
Indianist Missionary Council - CIMI