An international campaign for the legalization of the Macaxali
territory was officially launched in Brazil this week at a solemn
ceremony at the Legislative Assembly of the state of Minas Gerais. The
aim of the campaign is to draw the attention of the national and
international society and of the Brazilian government to the situation
of the Macaxali people. Although over 5,000 hectares of their
territory have been delimited, that people has been confined to two
small areas separated by a strip of land where eleven farmers
live. The 710 Macaxali Indians have experienced, since the 20's, the
violent invasion of their area and the rage of the invaders, who have
removed the landmarks which indicated the boundaries of their land.
The Campaign was also launched in Austria, Germany, and Canada.
The campaign is expected to last until March of next year, and it
will take the form of an itinerant exhibition of pictures and
handicraft in four Brazilian capitals where a picture book of the
Indians will be sold. It also involves visits of Brazilian
congressmen, foreign authorities and of the International Red Cross to
villages. In parallel to this action, the organizers of the Campaign
will collect signatures requesting the removal and the payment of an
indemnity to the squatters living in the area to be delivered to the
minister of Justice, Nelson Jobim.
MACUXI LEADER IS PAID HOMAGE TO IN THE UNITED STATES
The homage was paid by the Non Government Organization Rainforest
Action Network, in San Francisco, to Jacir de Souza, from the board of
the Indian Council of Roraima (CIR), during the World Rainforest Week.
He was granted the World Defender of the Rainforest Award, which
represents the recognition of his personal fight and that of the
Indians for the legalization of the Raposa/Serra do Sol Indian
Area, which since 1993 depends on an administrative decree to be
issued by the ministry of Justice. The homage is also part of the
International Campaign for the Demarcation of the area, which CIR
launched in July. On November 8, Jacir de Souza will be received by
Pope John Paul II at a public audience at the Vatican.
Before the homage ceremony, Jacir was in New York during the
celebration of the 50 years of the UN to deliver to president Fernando
Henrique Cardoso an open letter requesting the demarcation of the
Raposa/Serra do Sol area. The letter should have been personally
delivered to the President, but the audience for this purpose,
which had been requested on October 20, was canceled at the last
oment by the Brazilian Mission to the UN. The president did not reply
the letter.
Brasilia, October 27, 1995
Indianist Missionary Council