Indians fight for the land invaded by Aracruz Celulose

Comission for Articulation and Organization of the Tupinikim and Guarani Indians in Espirito Santo State, Brasil, 27 May 1996

Sinze 1975, the Tupinikim and Guarani Indians, living at the municipality of Aracruz, in Espirito Santo State, have been fighting for the recognition of their rights to occupy their traditional lands. These lands have been given back to the Indians by the Portuguese Crown and guaranteed in writing since the Imperial period in Brasil. Nowadays, the Indians, curtailed on their rights, face misery, the economic power of big companies and omission of the Brazilian government. To ensure their survival, the Indians are fighting for the expansion of the area under their jurisdiction, which presently is occupied by the market pulp company Aracruz Celulose S/A.

Historical Background

In 1500 - The Tupinikim Indians were encountered by Portuguese explorers at the coastline from Sao Paulo to Southern Bahia. Their population then, was estimated in at least 55 thousand people, occupying an extension of land around 1,000 km. With the beginning of colonization the domestication of the Indians took place, with the purpose of establishing the basis and expanding the colonial project of Portugal.

The immediate goal of the Portuguese Crown, was not only the occupation of the territory but as well the economic development of the colony. The strategy of the colonial enterprise was the encroachment of indigenous groups in controlled settlements, catechization of the Indians and transformation of them into slave labor. The actions of the Jesuit priests, forbidding traditional ceremonies and dismantling the original tribe arrangements, allowed stronger control over the Indians. The Indians' enslavement, diseases and radical changes on their war habits, ended up weakening the Tupinikim Indians.

Em 1610 - On the 4th of December, a sesmaria of land (79,2 km on north-south run) was requested to the Governor of the Capitania of Espirito Santo and the Portuguese Crown complied with it.

Em 1760 - The piece of the land above mentioned was demarcated through a Termo de Concerto e Composi<ao, but the Indians did not get all the extension originaly promised. It was only given to the Indians 61.4 km on north-south run. The historical records say that this area was confirmed by the Emperor Don Pedro II in 1860, during a visit to the Province of Espirito Santo.

A map from Espirito Santo, dating 1856, registers a population of 3,548 Indians in the region between Vilas da Serra and Linhares, including the localities of Nova Almeida and Santa Cruz. However, this number of people did not survive the years of colonization. The Indians of Espirito Santo were slowly decimated, victims of various maneuvers against them and personal difficulties. Initially the atacks came from the European explorers and recently, in the 20th Century, by loggers and farmers after their forests.

Other facts were important and decisive for the Tupinikim land to continue to be taken over by the non-indian Brazilian society. In 1910, it was created by the Federal Government, the Service of Protection to the Indians (Servi<o de Prote<ao ao Indio-SPI), which had the main role of pacifyingthe Indians to allow the construction of railroads and highways, favoring the establishment of loggers and farmers.

After 1940, the Indians of Aracruz suffered another invasion of their land. Declaring that the forested areas occupied by the Indians belonged to the Union, the Government gave away lumber and charcoal exploitation concessions. The Iron and Steel Company of Vitoria (Companhia Ferro e A<o de entirely located inside the indigenous territory in the municipality of Aracruz. The forest was devasted and in this period is started the environmental degradation of the region. Once the land was cleared of forest, it was occupied by coffee plantations. The settlers would do anything to displace the Indians.

In 1960 it was registered the presence of Guarani Indians in Espirito Santo, in the region of Caieiras Velhas, where they are presently found.

This Guarani Mbya group still maintains the practice of migrating continuously in their search for the land with no maladies- their paradise. The Guarani keep their costumes and speak Guarani. The few remnant Guarani people survive from game, fishing, crops and handicrafts, dividing the little forest left with the Tupinikim Indians without conflicts.

In the 60s, the SPI was terminated and to replace it, was created the National Indigenous Foundation (Fundacao Nacional do Indio - FUNAI) to support the new governmental goals. This moment is crucial for determining the bad conditions in which the Brazilian Indians live today. The Brazilian Government launched big development projects and the social impact of such initiatives hit directly the Indians. almost all their land, encroached in small back yard properties, making more difficult even more the survival of the group as a whole.

Aracruz Celulose

Presently the problems of the Tupinikim and Guarani Indians are directly related with the market pulp company Aracruz Celulose.

According to data from The Bank of National Social Development (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico Social - BNDES), Aracruz owns 203,000 ha in Espirito Santo. This company received from the State and Federal Governments all sort of incentives. From the State of Espirito Santo's Government they bought 30,000 ha of indigenous land for a symbolic value of 8/10 of cents of a cruzeiro for m2. And acquired from COFAVI a peice of property of 10,000 ha (from that indigenous area taken over by this company back in 1940). The remaining of the indigenous territory occupied by Aracruz Celulose nowadays, was taken by different maneuvers mainly grilagem (hiring land buyers who use all sort of violence to grab the land - paying for it or not). displacement of the Indians, declaring that in that area were no Indians.

The native forests were replaced by eucalyptus plantations, jeopardizing the traditional way of living of the Indians. The Indians say that: Or you would sell your land or they would take it away from you and then you would have nothing. Then the Indians got afraid and started to move away... Aracruz arrived destroying everything. They brought two bulldozers and a big chain, destroying everything ahead of them. We found all sort of animals dead. Then the forests finished, the birds died, and the rivers dried...

The statements of the Indians, who were present during Aracruz's occupation of the land, illustrate realistically the violence imposed by this company, which as well is responsible for the environment degradation in the region.

In 1983, after an intense fight, the Indians got back 4.491,40 ha of their original land (but in discontinuous pieces) and succeeded to have in demarcated by the Government. Since then, the Indians have been distributed into five communities: one Guarani and four Tupinikim. The remnant Indians plantations. Their lands are arid and unproductive, imposing a miserable life to these people. They can not hunt anymore, the rivers are drying and the land does not produce as before.

Ten years later, in 1993, the Indians decided to demand the expansion of their lands, once the indigenous population started to grow again. This proposal was filed with FUNAI, in Brasilia, under number 1632/93. The Indians want their land back, because they depend from it for their survival. The Indians are proposing the restoration of the area destroyed by Aracruz with eucalyptus plantations to original forests, so that they can have game, fish and freedom again.

Unification and expansion of the indigenous lands

Despite the fact that the Indians are facing a process of acculturation, surviving of small crop plantations and selling handicrafts, the Tupinikim and Guarani Indians are being able to get organized. Presently they are fighting for the control of 13,579 ha, which has always been theirs and would allow for their survival.

The Indians' proposal for expansion of their present area, is for the unification of the communities of Caieias Velhas and Pau Brasil, which will Comboios community to a total area of 3,800 ha.

After establishing a strong network to obtain support for their claim, in the 30th of November of 1993, the Indians succeed to be heard by the Federal deputy Chamber's Commission on Environment and Minorities. That day, the President of FUNAI, established a Working Group (Grupo de Trabalho - GT) to reassess, identify and implement the demarcation of the Tupinikim an Guarani indigenous areas. Under the decree 0783/94 of 30th August 1994, the GT was officially established. This Working Group produced a report, approved by the Indians and which supports the demand of the Indians. All the paper work is concluded and now it is needed to be officially published (Diario Oficial da Uniao).

The publication of the report's conclusions has been suspended, due to a new decree (1775/96) from 8th January of 1996, by the Minister of Justice, which changed the procedures for the official recognition of indigenous territories. This decree open possibilities for Aracruz and others to protest against the demands of the Indians. Indigenous groups of all over Brasil are fighting against this decree and threat that these changes will mean for their survival in the areas traditionally belonging to them.

Even recognizing that Aracruz or the Brazilian Government have no interest Indians, they will not give up. The Indians recognize that succeeding to get a report from the Working Group was a first step. Given these facts, the Tupinikim and Guarani Indians are launching an international campaign asking for the support of ngos, indigenous defense groups, personalities and authorities to put pressure on Aracruz Celulose, and over the Brazilian Government to redefine the boundaries of the lands.