RACE, RURAL POVERTY, AND LAND REFORM - BRAZIL'S

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 001849

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SCUL SOCI BR TIP
SUBJECT: RACE, RURAL POVERTY, AND LAND REFORM - BRAZIL'S
IMPOVERISHED QUILOMBOS

REF: A. SAO PAULO 000789


B. SAO PAULO 00843

C. 03 BRASILIA 3739


1. SUMMARY. As it struggles to find resources to implement
programs from agrarian land reform to Zero Hunger, the
government of Brazil faces another challenge to its busy
social agenda in bringing Brazil's quilombos (communities
originally founded by fugitive slaves) into the modern world.
The task of integrating quilombos into society is difficult
because it presents economic, race, and social challenges.
Almost half of all Brazilians describe themselves as being of
African descent, giving Brazil the second largest Black
population in the world behind Nigeria. Afro-Brazilians
represent a disproportionate number of the nation's poor.
(Brazilian race relations are covered in a series of Mission
reports, see Refs A and B.) Quilombo residents tend to be
abjectly poor, educated to the fourth grade, and living in
communities only tenuously linked to infrastructure grids.


2. President Lula's quilombo agenda has made considerable
strides in addressing quilombo problems, but much more is
needed. Unfortunately, resources restrictions mean that
quilombos will not make significant progress in the
short-term. On July 10-11, Poloffs visited Kalunga, a
quilombo in northern Goias state, 250 rugged miles north of
Brasilia. Poloffs found Kalunga to be much like other
quilombos: impoverished and without land title. END SUMMARY.

KALUNGA, MUCH THE SAME AS 300 YEARS AGO
--------------


3. On July 10-11, Poloffs, along with Claudio Braga of the
National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform
(INCRA),the GOB agency responsible for implementing land
reform policies; and Bernedete Lopes of the Palmares Cultural
Foundation, the GOB agency charged with registering and
protecting quilombos, visited Kalunga. Kalunga is the
largest quilombo in Brazil with 4,000 inhabitants spread
across three municipalities, occupying over 625,000 acres.
The quilombo was founded by escaped slaves from the
neighboring state of Minas Gerais who dispersed their
communities in remote locations to avoid capture. For almost
300 years, Kalungans lived in cultural and geographical
isolation. Contact with the outside world began in the
1980s. Since then, Kalunga has welcomed curious researchers
and tourists, including President Lula who visited the
quilombo in March 2004.


4. Kalunga runs much as it did three centuries ago, with a
backward economy based on subsistence agriculture and barter.
Not surprisingly, Kalunga is plagued by abject poverty.
Basic sanitation, health care, and education are slow in
coming. None of the mud huts or brick homes we visited had
indoor plumbing. Currently, the Palmares Foundation is
developing several sanitation projects in the community.
Doctors, visits to the remote quilombo are infrequent and
hospitals are largely inaccessible. The purchase of three
vans to shuttle patients to neighboring clinics is the most
recent improvement in health care. Educational opportunities
are limited, as schools in Kalunga go up to only the fourth
or fifth grade and classes are overcrowded. In one area, a
teacher with only a fifth grade education instructs grades
one through four. Few parents can afford to send their
children to neighboring cities for further education. The
desire for more educational and employment opportunities
lures young Kalungans off the quilombo. According to one
resident, not one Kalungan youth who has managed to go to
university has ever returned to the quilombo.

BRAZIL'S LARGEST QUILOMBO TO GET LAND
--------------


5. Kalunga will soon gain title to the land it has occupied
for centuries. On June 30, the GOB announced that it would
transfer land to Kalunga using federal and state funds for
indemnification. The announcement came almost five years
after Goias state officially recognized Kalunga,s authority
over the 625,000 acres. The delay in the title process was
caused by both structural and financial deficiencies.
Although the GOB recognizes quilombo land as sites of
national heritage to be protected under the Constitution,
only recently has the GOB developed a clear plan and funding
to transfer land to quilombos.

THE STATE OF QUILOMBOS
--------------


8. Kalunga,s economic and social problems are indicative of
quilombos. There are 746 registered quilombos (with hundreds
more believed to exist unregistered) with more than 2 million
people spread across 24 of Brazil's 26 states. Most of these
communities are impoverished and without land title. In
March 2004, the Palmares Foundation and the University of
Brasilia published results of a joint study on 156 quilombos.
The study showed that the lack of access to basic
sanitation, treated water, and health care has led to the
spread of diseases. Food security is a major concern, as the
agrarian communities are vulnerable to extremes in weather
conditions. There are few schools, and those in operation
are inadequate. According to the Palmares Foundation, only
150 of the 746 quilombos have schools. The lack of
infrastructure is one of the biggest impediments to
integrating quilombos into modern society and lifting them
from poverty. As in Kalunga, there are few roads connecting
quilombos to nearby cities, making travel and commercial
exchange difficult. In addition, many quilombos do not have
electricity or phone lines.


9. Quilombo land reform has moved slowly. In 1995 the first
land title was transferred to a quilombo - seven years after
the 1988 Constitution recognized quilombo land rights. To
date, only 72 of the 746 quilombos hold land titles.

LULA'S QUILOMBO AGENDA
--------------


10. President Lula is a champion of the quilombo cause.
Since taking office, he has turned over the administration of
quilombo land reform to INCRA, a more experienced agency in
land issues than the previous administrator, the Palmares
Foundation. (Palmares continues to work in other areas of
quilombos.) The transfer of administration allows quilombos
to be included in the National Plan for Agrarian Reform,
issued by the GOB in November 2003 (Ref C). The GOB has
established measurable goals for quilombo land reform.
INCRA, with assistance from the Palmares Foundation, is
charged with completing thirty land transfers by the end of
this year and 120 by the end of Lula's term in 2006. Special
training in handling quilombo land issues has recently been
provided to INCRA personnel responsible for quilombos. The
GOB is also moving to include quilombos in the country's
social welfare programs, recently making quilombos an area of
priority for the government's Zero Hunger initiative.

LULA'S CHALLENGES
--------------


11. The challenge the GOB faces in addressing these issues is
resources. There are only three INCRA members in each region
of Brazil working on quilombo land reform. The Palmares
Foundation has only six people (most of who work from
Brasilia) who cover a plethora of quilombo economic and
social issues with a meager annual budget of R$ 1 million
(approximately US$ 333,000). According to INCRA, the dearth
of resources and expertise often means that quilombos with
major land conflicts or with large populations are serviced
first.


12. COMMENT: Quilombos pose another challenge for the GOB in
the area of race and poverty. In a country where racial and
socioeconomic inequity affects a majority of the population,
there are never enough resources. With weak political
representation and no economic bargaining power, quilombos
have no leverage to affect change in their own communities.
As a result, they remain in danger of being prioritized low
on the GOB's political agenda, even though President Lula has
shown personal interest in helping quilombos, especially in
the area of land reform. However, granting land to quilombos
is just the beginning. To develop and modernize quilombos
will require that the GOB, for years to come, pay special
attention to these communities. Public service facilities,
utilities, job training, and infrastructure are just a few of
the many basics quilombos still lack. END COMMENT.

CHICOLA