BRAZIL: NEGLECTED INDIGENOUS FACE LAND RIGHTS CHALLENGES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 SAO PAULO 000039 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/BSC, WHA/USOAS, WHA/PDA AND DRL NSC FOR TOMASULO SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD USAID FOR LAC/AA DOL FOR ILAB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM EAGR SOCI SCUL BR SUBJECT: BRAZIL: NEGLECTED INDIGENOUS FACE LAND RIGHTS CHALLENGES REF: 07 Brasilia 2289 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) According to a range of Sao Paulo-based contacts, the Brazilian Government does not respect fully the territorial and cultural rights of indigenous peoples, leaving communities to subsist in squalid urban slums or neglected rural territories that represent a fraction of the lands the indigenous once inhabited. While the national government attempts to help the native Brazilian population through education and health initiatives, advocates for the indigenous tell us that the real issue facing this population is that local authorities do not uphold its ownership of demarcated areas, allowing farms to encroach on native lands. Activists also highlight that many federal government programs are insensitive to native traditions and cultures but acknowledge that some initiatives being implemented by Sao Paulo's municipal government are helpful in maintaining a sense of dignity and preserving indigenous history. End Summary. Overview -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Researchers estimate that in 1500, when the first Europeans arrived in South America, 2-3 million inhabitants comprising possibly as many as 2000 tribes lived in the land that today encompasses Brazil. According to the Brazilian Government's National Indigenous Administration (FUNAI),today 460,000 indigenous Brazilians live in 225 communities on native lands and an additional 100,000 to 190,000 reside outside of these areas, many in urban municipalities. Activists tell us that many rural landowners regularly disrespect demarcated boundaries and force indigenous Brazilians onto small parcels of land. Local government officials, often paid off by some of these agricultural barons, do little if anything to help reclaim the native territories. A recent case highlights the frustration indigenous Brazilians feel regarding their lack of rights: members of the Cintas-Largas ("Wide Belt") tribe kidnapped UN inspector David Martins Castro in Rondonia State in an attempt to draw attention to the miserable conditions in which they are living (Reftel). Although the Cintas-Largas eventually released Castro when FUNAI representatives agreed to address some of the tribe's complaints such as medical assistance, lack of educational opportunities and most importantly, sole access to diamond mining rights in their territory, the story is only one example of the frustration and anger which many indigenous communities feel. Brief Modern History of the Indigenous in Brazil -------------- --- ¶3. (SBU) Jurandir Siridiwe Xavante, a Sao Paulo-based Guarani leader, President of the Institute of Indigenous Traditions (IDETI) and a member of the Sao Paulo's Municipal Commission on Human Rights, said that until the 1930's, large swaths of indigenous tribes had no contact with Brazilians who trace their roots to countries outside of the continent. The lack of interaction was due to the fact that the more recent arrivals lived almost exclusively near the coast, where indigenous people had by this time either died from disease or migrated into the country's vast interior. Xavante listed President Getulio Vargas' (1930-45, 1951-54) programs to develop Brazil's interior in the 1940's and the military dictatorship's initiatives to exploit the Amazon region in the 1970's as major causes of 20th-century conflict between European-descended Brazilians and the indigenous people of Brazil. Native groups began mobilizing in the 1980's, creating the Union of Indigenous Nations (UNI) to serve as a national coalition representing indigenous rights. The GOB did not recognize the organization, Xavante explained, partly because of the group's identification as representing sovereign "nations." ¶4. (SBU) Further complicating UNI's efforts was a lack of SAO PAULO 00000039 002 OF 004 cooperation between tribes; differences in languages, customs and cultures; failure of the GOB to recognize indigenous land claims as promised under the 1988 constitution (Note: Many native Brazilian groups viewed the new constitution as a victory for the indigenous community, giving it rights to traditional lands and stating the mineral and energy resources could only be exploited with congressional authorization and community participation. End Note.); and a 1992 rape case against UNI leader Paulinho Paiakan (who was later pardoned). Xavante said that the Paiakan episode was the final tipping point leading to the dissolution of UNI. Indigenous leaders then "returned to their villages" to defend their local rights rather than focus on a national cause. Xavante emphasized that the greatest challenge facing the indigenous in Brazil is that their territorial and cultural rights are not respected. In addition to blatantly moving into indigenous territory or planting crops there, he claimed that farmers use agrochemicals to produce higher crop output, causing contamination of major sources of food and water for the indigenous. Focus on Sao Paulo -------------- ¶5. (U) Brazil's 2000 census recorded that 63,789 native Brazilians live in the State of Sao Paulo, which according to the Pro-Indian Commission of Sao Paulo (CPI-SP),an NGO that researches and documents information about the indigenous, is the third highest indigenous population after Amazonas State (113,391) and Bahia State (64,240). Of the Sao Paulo figure, although 4,000 are from the Guarani, Kaingang, Terena and Krenak tribes, the vast majority come from Brazil's northeastern native populations. (Note: Migration from Brazil's poor northeast to more prosperous Sao Paulo is common among all demographic and racial groups. End Note.) The indigenous population of Sao Paulo lives in 38 villages on 31 "native lands" within the state's boundaries, but the state has only recognized three of these as official demarcated areas. The remaining lands are either awaiting recognition - according to tribal leaders from the Guarani village of Tekoa Pyau, their community has been waiting for over ten years - or are not pursuing recognition because their leaders believe demarcation, even if granted by the state, will not guarantee their rights. A 2004 CPI-SP study found that of the state's total indigenous population, only 3,800 reside outside of the Greater Sao Paulo metropolitan area, and of these, the overwhelming majority live in poor conditions without access to much more than basic education and health care. Government Not Doing Enough -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Several activists on indigenous issues complained about the government's lack of assistance to native communities. Jori Ferere, who created Sao Paulo's only indigenous language school, Sala Sequoia, called FUNAI an overly bureaucratic government entity whose inefficiency and hypocritical attitude of wanting to "help" the indigenous while actually assimilating them into modern Brazil does significantly more harm than good. IDETI President Xavante agreed with Ferere, emphasizing that specifically in the areas of education and health, government support is severely lacking and that until twenty years ago, the GOB behaved as if indigenous populations did not even exist, taking the position that the indigenous had already died out or were mixed in with non-native Brazilians. Today, FUNAI hires unqualified employees who care little for indigenous interests, and underpays them as well as trains them inadequately, Xavante said. He added that the Ministry of Health's National Health Foundation (FUNASA),specifically charged with addressing indigenous health issues, dispatches to indigenous communities medical workers who have no knowledge of tribal needs or cultural practices and who attempt to resolve local issues with non-traditional means that are not understood by many native Brazilians. Xavante also complained that FUNASA's focus is on quick action with no follow up or long-term disease prevention or health enhancement programs. ¶7. (SBU) Catholic University of Sao Paulo (PUC-SP) Professor Lucia Helena Rangel, one of Brazil's foremost indigenous historians and SAO PAULO 00000039 003 OF 004 anthropologists, summarized today's conflict between "modern Brazil" and the indigenous as stemming from the GOB's attempt to assimilate native Brazilians into the modern state while ignoring their languages, rituals, habits and customs. Highlighting the issue in Sao Paulo, Professor Rangel said that when the state government demarcated indigenous territories, it did so without consideration for the tribes' own interests and forced many communities to live in areas with which they had no links. Although the government tries to help the indigenous through programs such as stipends and food supplements, these initiatives only create a culture of dependency rather than encouraging the indigenous to pursue their traditional way of living, she added. Violence Targeting Indigenous -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Professor Rangel repeated the widespread allegation that local authorities responsible for registering new businesses and farms do not recognize indigenous land rights. Rangel said that this leads to violent conflicts between large landowners who employ armed security personnel to kill local indigenous villagers in order to scare whole communities into moving away. According to the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI),a Catholic Church-sponsored organization supporting native Brazilian rights, 76 indigenous were killed throughout Brazil in 2007, compared with 40 in 2006, the highest number in almost thirty years. CIMI experts note that 48 of those killed were members of the Guarani-Kaiowa tribe in Mato Grosso do Sul State, where land rights conflicts are particularly violent. In an interview with the widely-circulated newspaper, O Estado de S. Paulo, FUNAI President Marcio Meira even admitted that "massacres" occur because the state is not able to exercise its authority in all areas and protect the indigenous. FUNASA Refutes Complaints -------------- ¶9. (SBU) FUNASA Sao Paulo Region Indigenous Health Advisor Paulo Sellera stated that his agency works to help indigenous communities secure access to drinking water, improve basic sanitation and coordinate health agreements with the Sao Paulo municipal government and NGOs to provide medical workers, create local health programs, and build health clinics. He noted that while FUNASA does face bureaucratic challenges and budgetary limitations and sometimes has difficulty addressing indigenous concerns because of cultural differences (Note: Sellera admitted that all FUNASA Sao Paulo employees are white or Afro-Brazilian except for a few indigenous drivers and nursing technicians. End Note.),the agency is successful in improving living conditions in many indigenous villages. He said that corruption within the local indigenous leadership is widespread and that many community elders seek to personally profit from FUNASA assistance. Sellera agreed that FUNASA still has much work ahead but defended the group by saying that it only took over health programming from FUNAI in 1999. Sellera added that FUNASA's greatest challenge is to empower indigenous councils (with membership on the local level made up entirely of indigenous Brazilians and on the district level with half indigenous and half non-native assistance providers) to create plans for community renewal and to have villages prioritize their demands. Responding to criticism of FUNASA, Sellera alleged that many of the agency's opponents are foreigners or are affiliated with the Catholic Church. Suh people, he asserted, do not understand the indgenous community's challenges and many of them have a personal stake in criticizing the Brazilian Government. Visit to Indigenous Villages -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Poloff discussed indigenous rights with tribal leaders during recent visits to two Guarani villages. At Tekoa Pyau, a community of about 500 located on the western edge of the Sao Paulo metropolitan area, village elders complained that Brazilian authorities have left the once rich agricultural area to deteriorate into an urban slum. According to the community's council, FUNAI and FUNASA officials seldom visit or commit any form of assistance SAO PAULO 00000039 004 OF 004 although a FUNASA physician visits the Guarani village of Tekoa Ytu across the street daily. They indicated that this discrepancy, based on no clear reasoning, is common throughout Sao Paulo. Getting medicine is particularly difficult, they told us. Even young children who may suffer from an illness that needs immediate attention sometimes have to wait a minimum of 4-5 days to get medicine. They told us that the community has fought a demarcation battle for the past ten years to have the government recognize its territorial jurisdiction. Tekoa Pyau leaders admitted that the City of Sao Paulo does much more for the community than federal entities, including providing a well-maintained health clinic and a cultural and elementary education center. Access to secondary education is a major challenge because there is no public school nearby and the community cannot afford to send its youth to private schools. Comment -------------- ¶11. (SBU) The history of the indigenous in Brazil and the challenges they face today pose a serious human rights issue in Brazil that is unfortunately often overlooked. Lack of opportunities and a government focused on other priorities add to the difficulties that native Brazilians confront, but land conflicts and the continued killings of indigenous villagers who occupy desirable farm areas should stand as more than just a red flag. The history of Brazil's indigenous has much in common with our own experience in the United States. Our shared legacies offer an important bridge between our two countries. Programs such as the PA-run April 2007 shared indigenous workshop, seminar and festival, which brought together experts from our two countries, are invaluable in helping tackle the difficulties Brazil's indigenous have yet to overcome. End Comment. ¶12. (U) Embassy Brasilia coordinated with and cleared this cable.