This Thursday (the 7th), representatives of the Forum for Land
Reform and Justice in Rural Areas, accompanied by senator Eduardo
Suplicy, delivered the ''Letter to the Heads of the Three Branches of
the Republic'' in Brasilia addressed to the President of the Republic,
Fernando Henrique Cardoso; to the presidents of the Chamber of
Deputies, Luis Eduardo Magalhaes; of the Senate, Jose Sarney; and of
the Supreme Federal Court, Sepulveda Pertence. In the document, the
Forum accuses the Public Powers of not fulfilling their promises, of
not implementing the Land Reform in Brazil, and of disregarding
indigenous rights. The Letter was delivered on Thursday afternoon
after a demonstration organized by the Forum of the Opposition, which
convened the leaders of different parties who want to unify political
actions.
The ''Letter to the Heads of the Three Branches of the Republic''
highlights the impunity that prevailed after the Corumbiara slaughter
and denounces the plan of the federal administration to limit the Land
Reform to the settling of landless families and its dissemination of
biased data on the goals that were fulfilled last year in that regard.
Early in January, the federal administration announced that 42
thousand families had been settled in 1995. According to the Forum,
however, only 35% of those families were settled in areas set apart
for land reform purposes. Also in 1995, about 150 families of rural
workers were expelled from places where they lived in rural areas. The
disregard for other policies in support of the Land Reform Program is
also apparent in the appropriation of only 48% of the budget of the
National Colonization and Land Reform Institute (INCRA). The
''Letter'' criticizes the approval of Decree 1,775/96 and describes
the attitude of minister Nelson Jobim, who ignored the warning and
questioning of the indigenous movement, entities that support it and
of the national and international public opinion, as authoritarian.
The document demands appropriate measures from the Executive
Branch, the National Congress and the Judiciary Branch, stressing the
indifference of the Branches of the Republic in relation to the
arbitrary acts and the violence that have prevailed in rural areas
since the colonial period. ''So far, the branches of the Republic have
not been sensitive and have not taken appropriate measures in relation
to the dramatic and by now historical situation in the Brazilian rural
area'', the ''Letter'' denounces.
PRESIDENT REFUSES TO RECEIVE CAPOIB
The Presidency of the Republic sent a fax to the Council for the
Articulation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of Brazil
(CAPOIB) informing that president Fernando Henrique Cardoso will not
receive Brazilian indigenous leaders for an audience. The audience was
requested on February 12 and was expected to be held on April 27, when
a large demonstration with the presence of about 700 indigenous
leaders will be held in Brasilia. CAPOIB will discuss the official
Indianist policy, Decree 1,775/96 and prospects for the demarcation of
indigenous lands in 1996. In the fax from the presidency, the head of
the Personal Cabinet of the President of the Republic, Jorge Lucena
Dantas, informed CAPOIB that he referred the request for an audience
to the Cabinet of minister Nelson Jobim ''for a preliminary discussion
of the matter by the competent authorities''.
Brasilia, March 8th, 1996
CIMI - Indianist Missionary Council