Tupinikim e Guarani demand demarcation now!

ALERT AGAINST THE GREEN DESERT NETWORK - ESPÍRITO SANTO
6 September 2006

This morning, 6 September, 200 Tupinikim and Guarani Indians in the Espírito Santo state, Brazil, started to cut down eucalyptus trees in the area that traditionally belongs to them and has been invaded and explored by Aracruz Celulose for almost 40 years.

With this action, the Commission of Tupinikim and Guarani Chiefs and Leaders and their communities intend to remind FUNAI and the Ministry of Justice of their promises, and demand a maximum of agility in the administrative acts necessary to guarantee finally the demarcation of 11,009 hectares of indigenous lands and solving the present conflict with the cellulose multinational Aracruz Celulose.

On 20 August, the legal period ended during which FUNAI should have sent the Tupinikim and Guarani land demarcation file to the Minister of Justice, Márcio Thomaz Bastos. The Minister has then a legal period until 20 September to sign the demarcation decree, declaring the land as indigenous, according to both Article 231 of the Federal Constitution, as well as Decree 1.775/96. But the file is still at the FUNAI, in spite of the fact that the institution already concluded its opinion about the challenges (defense) presented by Aracruz Celulose; and these challenges were rejected, as FUNAI already affirmed publicly.

The cutting of eucalyptus trees today is also a protest of the indigenous peoples against the planting of this monoculture on their lands, which led to the destruction of the native forest and has been causing many problems for the Tupinikim and Guarani communities. They intend to cut the trees, and not take them away, reaffirming that their struggle is for the land.

The solution of this conflict is urgently needed. The growing criminalization of Indians, peasants, ?quilombolas? and supporters of their struggles is the result of the slowness with which the authorities demarcate the lands, realize agrarian reform and dispossess so-called ?devolutas lands? (lands that belong to the state) that are in the hands of big farmers and companies. Besides, we repudiate the perverse way by which Aracruz Celulose, in its defense presented to the FUNAI, tries to disqualify the right of the Tupinikim and Guarani to their lands, trying even to deny the identity of the Indians, something completely absurd. This is an insult against the Indians and against the society as a whole.

We, from the Alert against the Green Desert Network, support totally the actions of the Tupinikim and Guarani and appeal to the Minister of Justice that he obeys Article 231 of the Federal Constitution and finally guarantees the indigenous rights. From the Federal Government, we demand that the indigenous rights be considered more important than the financial interests of the agribusiness sector!