BRAZIL'S INDIANS - PART II: INDIAN CONCERNS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 000985

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/18/2014
TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI ECON BR TIP
SUBJECT: BRAZIL'S INDIANS - PART II: INDIAN CONCERNS

REF: A. BRASILIA 0941


B. BRASILIA 0946

Classified By: Poloff David G. Mosby for reasons 1.4 B/D.


1. (U) This is Part II of a three-part series about Indians
in Brazil. This cable reviews the concerns of indigenous
leaders. Part I provides an overview and Part III discusses
ongoing land disputes.


2. (C) Summary. During the 2002 presidential campaign Lula
spoke about Indian rights and promised to demarcate and
register Indian lands quickly. As a result, Indian leaders
and indigenous rights activists were optimistic that many of
the longstanding grievances of Brazil's Indians would finally
become a GoB priority. However, numerous Indian leaders feel
that since Lula took office, he has not paid sufficient
attention to their issues. Many express disappointment and
even a sense of betrayal. The growing Indian disputes of the
last few months, during which time Indians have clashed with
farmers and prospectors, in some cases violently, in several
states, has served to strengthen these impressions. The
president of the GoB's Indian affairs agency defends the
government's record but acknowledgs that Lula has not
completely lived up to expectations. End summary.

Indian Government Officials Criticize Lula
--------------

3. (C) Antonio Apurina, Director of Assistance Programs for
FUNAI (the GoB's Indian agency) and the only Indian in a
senior position anywhere in the GoB, harshly criticized
President Lula during a February meeting with Poloff.
Apurina, a chief of the Apurina tribe and an "alternate"
senator for the state of Acre, and Jose da Silva-Jaminawa
Tunoma, a chief of the Jaminawa Indians and FUNAI's Chief of
Station in Acre, told us the Lula government has not
developed a policy to address the problems of Indians in
Brazil.


4. (C) Apurina said he was "not impressed" with his boss,
Mercio Pereira, President of FUNAI. Despite Pereira's
background as an anthropologist and specialist in Indian
affairs, Apurina accused him of patronizing Indians and said
he and Lula are not genuinely interested in dialogue with
Indian leaders. He said Indians were disappointed that Lula
chose not to appoint the first Indian president of FUNAI and
emphasized that he himself is the only Indian senior FUNAI
official --criticizing the fact that an Indian had not been
placed in charge of Land Issues Directorate, the most
powerful of FUNAI's directorates. Apurina said the Lula
government has not developed a plan for economic development
on reservations and criticized IBAMA, Brazil's environmental
protection agency, for contributing to underdevelopment by
trying to maintain Indian reservations as de facto nature
preserves.


5. (C) Apurina said that earlier this year he and several
other Indian leaders were invited to speak with Cesar
Alvares, Undersecretary General of the Presidency, about the
developing Indian crisis, but Apurina said Indian leaders are
"sick of talking." Moreover, he was critical of the fact
that none of the ministries responsible for improving the
conditions of Indians in Brazil (e.g., Justice, Education,
Labor, Health, etc.) attended the meeting. The Indians
raised a series of concerns with Alvares, who was unable to
make any commitments in response. As a result, several of
the Indian leaders thought "the meeting was useless,"
according to Apurina.

Lula - "Disappointment" for Indian Rights NGOs
-------------- -

6. (SBU) Andre Lima, head of the Brazilian NGO "Instituto
Socio-Ambiental", which advocates for protection of the
environmental and Indian rights, told Poloff that the Lula
government has been a "great disappointment." And Jose Eden
Pereira Magalhaes, head of the Indigenous Missionary Council
(CIMI),a Catholic NGO that advocates for Indian rights, told
us (unlike Apurina, above, who is "sick of talking") that the
"government does not speak with the Indians."


7. (SBU) All four interlocutors commented on the GOB's
unnecessary and politically motivated delays in registering
indigenous lands. They feel that Lula's quest for a
congressional majority has made him unwilling to antagonize
powerful politicians from states with significant Indian
populations by finalizing the demarcation process. These
politicians are beholden to major landowners (or are
landowners themselves). Lula, they say, is the first
Brazilian president since the 1988 Constitution to reduce the
size of an indigenous territory surveyed and demarcated by
FUNAI.

Ending the Government's Guardianship of Indians
-------------- --

8. (SBU) These interlocutors also opined that the GOB's
Indian problem goes deeper than the question of land. The
greater issue is respect for Indians. They explained that
the lack of respect is the legacy of a patronizing system of
"tutela" --government guardianship-- of Indians that existed
before the 1988 Constitution and, in certain respects, still
exists today. Despite the Constitution, much of the old
legislation --which essentially treats Indians as wards of
the state-- remains in force, according to Lima.

FUNAI President Sympathetic But Defends Government
-------------- --------------

9. (C) On March 12, Poloff met with Mercio Pereira,
president of FUNAI, to discuss the criticisms by the Indian
leaders and NGOs. When asked if their assessment was fair,
Mendes replied, "It's fair, but it's not fair," acknowledging
that Lula had greatly raised expectations and has not lived
up to them. However, he emphasized, "this government is
doing as much, if not more than the previous government."


10. (C) Pereira rejected criticism of Lula for not
appointing an Indian as president of FUNAI. "Which tribe
would you chose from? There are more than 200 tribes," he
said, adding that, "If Lula had picked an Indian as president
of FUNAI, there easily could have been violence between
Indian tribes." While acknowledging the final registration
of the controversial Raposa/Serra do Sol in Roraima state
(see Part III of this series) has been delayed for "political
reasons," Gomes said the Lula government has finished the
demarcation process for all the other territories that were
pending when Lula came to office and has moved forward on new
demarcations. Asked if the Lula government would fulfill its
promise of finishing the demarcation process in four years,
Gomes said, "I was optimistic before. Now, I don't know.
The government is fragile now because of scandals. It will
probably take two terms to completely demarcate and register
the final 30 percent."


11. (C) Comment. Some Indian leaders and indigenous rights
activists feel betrayed by Lula and the PT. They expected
this government to be more aggressive on their issues and are
disappointed with progress so far. While Indians make up
less than one percent of Brazil's population, they hold
powerful symbolic value in Brazilian culture and society.
Being accused of being insensitive to their concerns is not
an enviable position for President Lula.
HRINAK