The announcement that the Brazilian government intends to discuss
possible amendments to Decree 22/91 was made by the spokesman for the
Presidency of the Republic, Sergio Amaral, through the main newspapers
of the country. Articles published on July 26 and 27 mention CIMI
among other ``Indian-supporting entities'' which were invited to take
part in the debate. Although the information had immediate
repercussions, CIMI has not received any formal invitation to take
part in the discussion. Amaral declared that the new criteria which
the amendment would introduce will not delay the process of delimiting
areas being claimed by the Indians. Right after saying this, he
mentioned that at least 65 areas, totaling 20 million hectares, may
have their bounds changed, that is, reduced.
CAPOIB (Council for the Articulation of Indian Peoples and
Organizations of Brazil) sent a letter to the minister of Justice,
Nelson Jobim, and to president Fernando Henrique Cardoso warning that
the amendments to the decree will make room for Indian lands to be
invaded, Indians to be killed, and for the ethnical extermination of
Indian peoples. ``Let's put an end to 500 years of genocide,'' the
letter emphasizes. The Council announced its intention to take part in
the debate and denounced that the government knows about everything
that happened in the past and is happening now to Indian peoples.
Therefore, the intention to change the decree represents not only a
lack of political will but is also something to be ashamed of both in
Brazil and abroad. ``We think that the Government wants to do
something that will have not only legal consequences, but also very
serious political repercussions,'' the letter says in conclusion.
AVA-GUARANI FIGHT FOR TRADITIONAL AREA
After waiting for 13 years, about 15 Ava-Guarani families in Sao
Miguel de Igua<u, state of Parana, peacefully occupied the 622-ha
Parana-Pora Indian area, invaded by the binational Itaipu power
station. Camped since June 15, the Indians demand compliance with a
commitment assumed by the company, which in 1982 flooded the Jacutinga
Indian area, which comprises 1,500 hectares. At that time, the Guarani
were transferred to an area called Ocoy, which comprises 230 hectares
only, with the promise that they would be settled in the Parana-Pora
area shortly thereafter, but it never happened. According to Indian
leaders, the Ocoy area was never enough to meet the physical, cultural
and religious needs of the people, as the Brazilian Constitution
provides for. Because the area does not offer good conditions for
growing crops, the Ava-Guarani also complain that their nourishment is
insufficient, favoring the occurrence of diseases such as veminosis,
diarrhea, malnutrition, and malaria among adults and children.
FUNAI has began to carry out anthropological studies to prove that
the area was traditionally occupied by this people, as the Indians
claim, and to take the first steps to begin the administrative
procedure for demarcating it. The studies have not been concluded so
far. There is no tension in the area, but Itaipu is determined to
have the Indians removed from the area that they occupied.
Brasilia, August 3, 1995
Indianist Missionary Council