This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

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