URGENT ACTION: Two Amazon Leaders Sentenced and Imprisoned Without trial or Bail
New York City, Sept. 22, 1995 -
Two internationally respected leaders of Amazon rubber tappers have been
arrested and are being imprisoned, without trial or bail, according to
reports received here last night from Acre, a northwestern Brazilian State.
In response, Amanaka'a Amazon Network, a New York City - Based support
organization for Amazon leaders, is coordinating an international effort to
free the two men or grant them the right to a fair trial.
Antonio Macedo, one of the leaders, was invited into town on Wednesday of
this week by state judge Facundes and promptly thrown into jail. Damiao
Goncalves a Silva was arrested at his forest home and wad reported being
transported to prison yesterday.
In 1992, the two leaders were accused of inciting rubber tappers to resist
eviction by rubber barons. Although sentenced to two years in prison,
without an investigation or trial, the case was shelved following
international pressure during Brazil's Earth Summit. This week, the case
reopened as the state's new governor, Orleir Cameli, appointed Judge
Facundes, who ordered the arrests.
In a hand-written letter smuggled out of prison and faxed to Amanaka'a
offices yesterday, Mr. Macedo states that he had never visited the village
where the actions took place and was in New York city when the alleged
"crime" occurred. "It was a non-violent action, [and] a just cause," Mr.
Macedo wrote. "The rubber tappers never went to school. But they knew they
had lived in those villages from the cradle, just as their ancestors had
before them."
The rubber barons who ordered the evictions were latecomers to the region
and held title to the land, according to local and international historians
and legal experts.
"We fear that these arrests could be the beginning of a new and widespread
witch-hunt against Amazon leaders who have been working diligently to
protect the rainforest and its people," said Zeze Weiss, executive director
of Amanaka'a.
Mr. Macedo is president of Txai Indian Rubber Taper Foundation, dedicated
to finding ecologically viable economic alternatives in the rainforest. Mr.
Goncalves da Silva is President of the Rubber Tapper's Association of
Riozinho do Cruzeiro do Vale. Both leaders were close associates of the
late Chico Mendes, who was assassinated in 1988 by gunmen hired by the
rubber barons. "The international community must speak out against the
campaign of repression that is cruelly being waged against the rubber
tappers and indigenous peoples in Brazil," commented human rights advocate
Bianca Jagger. "Let's make sure Chico Mendes didn't die in vain."
Individuals and organizations wishing to help free these two leaders can
send faxes to Judge Jair Araujo Facundes at 011-55-68-322-4185 or to
governor Orleir Cameli at 011-55-68-223-1210.
Copies of Mr. Macedo's letter from prison as well as a fact sheet on the
case are available upon request).
SAIIC - South and Meso American Indian Rights Center
P.O. Box 28703
Oakland, CA 94604
Tel: (510) 834-4263
email: SAIIC@igc.apc.org