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| Makuxi wearing paishara costume for meeting at Bismark, Raposa Serra do Sol, Brazil. October 1996
© 1996 Fiona Watson/Survival |
I think you can help us speak to the President so that the demarcation of our land is ratified and these invaders are removed.'
Orlando Makuxi
The Brazilian government is delaying ratifying the boundaries of an Indian
area, Raposa-Serra do Sol, in north Brazil with disastrous consequences for the
12,000 Indians who have lived there since time immemorial. Farmers and miners
have invaded the area illegally and use it for cattle ranching, rice cultivation
and mining gold, and the army has built a barracks right beside an Indian
community.
There is great pressure on the government to cut the size of the Indian area
by one-quarter. Local politicians and businesses have tried to keep the
territory open for their own profits, and even succeeded in getting the courts
to grant an injunction in their favour. This was overturned by the Supreme Court
in November 2002, and although the Minister of Justice ordered the area to be
made Indian land as long ago as December 1998, the president has still not done
the required final step which is to ratify the demarcation'.
The president is now being asked to make a final decision about this and it
is crucial that he is made aware of the tragic consequences of any failure to
act in the Indians' favour.
Raposa-Serra do Sol, in Roraima in the very north of Brazil, covers almost
1.7 million hectares and is home to several tribes, the Makuxi, Wapixana,
Ingarikó, Taurepang and Patamona. The Indians have been pressing for their land
rights for the last 30 years.
One tribe, the Makuxi, is frequently threatened and intimidated and about a
dozen Indians have been killed in recent years. Others have seen their property
stolen or destroyed. The most recent known incident was the murder of the Makuxi
Aldo da Silva Matos in January 2003. He was holding up his hands when,
allegedly, two ranch workers shot him dead.
The rice farmers are using chemical fertilisers which are damaging the soil
and rivers, poisoning the birds and fish on which the Indians depend, and
contaminating their drinking water. In addition, at least six dredges are now
being operated by miners on the Máu river. Their use of mercury to separate out
the gold is adding to the dangerous levels of contamination, and they are also
bringing a lot of alcohol into the Indian communities. Diseases are now being
spread, both by the miners, as well as by the soldiers barracked in Uiramutã, on
the Maxuki's doorstep. They routinely offer drinks and cheap goods to the
Indians in exchange for sex. Levels of sexually-transmitted diseases are
expected to soar.
The farming and cattle ranching is having a devastating effect on the
Indians' game supplies and their livelihood is unlikely to survive this invasion
of their lands. The many Indian tribes live by fishing, hunting and growing
vegetables, with manioc and maize as their principal staples. Some run their own
highly-successful health and school projects, and some have their own
small-scale livestock programmes. Raposa-Serra do Sol is an area of great beauty
and diversity, with mountains and grass plains as well as the lush rainforest
and countless rivers of the Amazon.
The local Indian organisation, the Indigenous Council of Roraima, is asking
Survival supporters to contact Brazil's president with the utmost urgency. Its
leader, Jacir José de Souza, is saying, We indigenous peoples have been
working towards this moment for many more years than even Lula ran for
president. Now that he is there, it is time for him to support the indigenous
peoples of Raposa-Serra do Sol by ratifying our territory.'
