And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1999 12:14:06 -0500
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Subject: Urgent Action Re Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Area
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From: Kenneth Walsh@EDF on 04/01/99 12:14 PM
Subject: Urgent Action Re Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Area
URGENT ACTION
Amazon politicians blackmail Justice Minister to cut key
Indian area
Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) Requests Action
Please fax Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso
congratulating him on the demarcation of the Raposa Serra do
Sol indigenous area and urging him to proceed with
ratification and registry of the demarcation. Your quick
action can help to counterbalance very heavy pressure to
revoke the demarcation, with disastrous consequences for the
region and for Indian lands across the Amazon. If the fax
number for President Cardoso (55 61 411 2222) becomes
shut down, we suggest that letters be emailed and then
sent via normal mail.
Last December, the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) won
an epoch-making victory when Brazilian Justice Minister
Renan Calheiros signed the decree demarcating the 1.6
million hectare Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous area. This
was a victory not only for the Maxuci, Wapixana, Ingariko
and Taurepang Indians who have struggled for over 20 years
for the demarcation, but also for international
environmentalists and human rights activists who campaigned
in favor of the demarcation. The Raposa Serra do Sol case
was and is being carefully watched by anti-indigenous areas
across the Amazon - were it to prove possible to stop the
demarcation there or break up the area to allow miners and
ranchers to have parts of it, the precedent could be
replicated elsewhere in the 20% of the Amazon that is Indian
land. The demarcation thus represented defeat for the state
government and politicians of Roraima. The state
congressional delegation had in 1997 traded its votes in
favor of the Constitutional amendment allowing Presidential
re-election for guarantees from then-minister of Justice
Nelson Jobim that the area would be reduced in size and
fragmented.
Local politicians reacted to the demarcation with overt
threats against the Indians, and brought suit in federal
court seeking to repeal the decision. There were two
assassination attempts against Indians and their supporters
in the area. A preliminary injunction to halt the physical
demarcation was refused. A long history of legal challenges
to the area shows clearly that the traditional indigenous
occupation of the entire area is extremely well-documented,
and that there is no legal basis on which to revoke the
demarcation.
But political pressure can override the law when wielded by
the elite. The Amazonian congressional delegations are
threatening a Parliamentary Investigating Committee against
the Indian agency, the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI)
and the Minister of Justice, (who is the hierarchical
superior of the President of FUNAI) with the under-the-table
understanding that if the demarcation is revoked the
investigation will not go forward. Since FUNAI has much to
hide (and has long before this President or this Minister)
the threat is substantial. Presidential staff have told
indigenous rights supporters that the government plans to
revoke the demarcation.
Only completing the demarcation process (through
Presidential ratification of the demarcation or homologa?ao,
and subsequent registry in land cadasters), will stop the
cycle of violence, intimidation and constant threat of
dispossession that the Indians have suffered for more than
20 years. And only completing the demarcation will signal
the predatory development interests of the Amazon and their
political puppets that the Brazilian Constitution applies in
the Amazon - that indigenous land rights are real.
The Indigenous Council of Roraima has urgently requested
Indian rights supporters to fax Brazilian President Fernando
Henrique Cardoso and Justice Minister Renan Calheiros,
congratulating them on the global historical importance of
the demaraction of Raposa Serra do Sol area, and urge them
to complete the process through ratification and registry as
soon as possible. Your responses to such
requests in the past have made far more of a difference than
you may imagine.
Model letter:
Ilmo Exmo. Sr.
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Presidente da Republica Federativa do Brasil
Pal cio do Planalto
Brasilia DF
Brasil
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Fax: (55 61 411 2222)
cc
Ministro da Justi?a Renan Calheiros
Fax: 55 61-224 2448
Presidente da Funai M rcio Lacerda
Fax: 55 61-226 8782
Dear Mr. President,
Please accept our congratulations for your government's
decision to demarcate the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous
area in Roraima state. This courageous decision is an
example of respect for human rights and environmental
sustainability to our hemisphere.
We urge to proceed with the ratification and registry of
this critical area as soon as possible.
Thank you for your attention to this.
Sincerely:
++++++++++++++++++++++
Stephan Schwartzman
Environmental Defense Fund
1875 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
Tel: 202 387 3500; Fax 202 234 6049
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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