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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 001849 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SCUL SOCI BR TIP
SUBJECT: RACE, RURAL POVERTY, AND LAND REFORM - BRAZIL'S 
IMPOVERISHED QUILOMBOS 
 
REF: A. SAO PAULO 000789 
 
     ¶B. SAO PAULO 00843 
     ¶C. 03 BRASILIA 3739 
 
¶1. SUMMARY. As it struggles to find resources to implement 
programs from agrarian land reform to Zero Hunger, the 
government of Brazil faces another challenge to its busy 
social agenda in bringing Brazil's quilombos (communities 
originally founded by fugitive slaves) into the modern world. 
 The task of integrating quilombos into society is difficult 
because it presents economic, race, and social challenges. 
Almost half of all Brazilians describe themselves as being of 
African descent, giving Brazil the second largest Black 
population in the world behind Nigeria.  Afro-Brazilians 
represent a disproportionate number of the nation's poor. 
(Brazilian race relations are covered in a series of Mission 
reports, see Refs A and B.)  Quilombo residents tend to be 
abjectly poor, educated to the fourth grade, and living in 
communities only tenuously linked to infrastructure grids. 
 
¶2. President Lula's quilombo agenda has made considerable 
strides in addressing quilombo problems, but much more is 
needed.  Unfortunately, resources restrictions mean that 
quilombos will not make significant progress in the 
short-term.  On July 10-11, Poloffs visited Kalunga, a 
quilombo in northern Goias state, 250 rugged miles north of 
Brasilia.  Poloffs found Kalunga to be much like other 
quilombos: impoverished and without land title.  END SUMMARY. 
 
KALUNGA, MUCH THE SAME AS 300 YEARS AGO 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. On July 10-11, Poloffs, along with Claudio Braga of the 
National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform 
(INCRA), the GOB agency responsible for implementing land 
reform policies; and Bernedete Lopes of the Palmares Cultural 
Foundation, the GOB agency charged with registering and 
protecting quilombos, visited Kalunga.  Kalunga is the 
largest quilombo in Brazil with 4,000 inhabitants spread 
across three municipalities, occupying over 625,000 acres. 
The quilombo was founded by escaped slaves from the 
neighboring state of Minas Gerais who dispersed their 
communities in remote locations to avoid capture.  For almost 
300 years, Kalungans lived in cultural and geographical 
isolation.  Contact with the outside world began in the 
1980s.  Since then, Kalunga has welcomed curious researchers 
and tourists, including President Lula who visited the 
quilombo in March 2004. 
 
¶4. Kalunga runs much as it did three centuries ago, with a 
backward economy based on subsistence agriculture and barter. 
 Not surprisingly, Kalunga is plagued by abject poverty. 
Basic sanitation, health care, and education are slow in 
coming.  None of the mud huts or brick homes we visited had 
indoor plumbing.  Currently, the Palmares Foundation is 
developing several sanitation projects in the community. 
Doctors, visits to the remote quilombo are infrequent and 
hospitals are largely inaccessible.  The purchase of three 
vans to shuttle patients to neighboring clinics is the most 
recent improvement in health care.  Educational opportunities 
are limited, as schools in Kalunga go up to only the fourth 
or fifth grade and classes are overcrowded.  In one area, a 
teacher with only a fifth grade education instructs grades 
one through four.  Few parents can afford to send their 
children to neighboring cities for further education.  The 
desire for more educational and employment opportunities 
lures young Kalungans off the quilombo.  According to one 
resident, not one Kalungan youth who has managed to go to 
university has ever returned to the quilombo. 
 
BRAZIL'S LARGEST QUILOMBO TO GET LAND 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. Kalunga will soon gain title to the land it has occupied 
for centuries.  On June 30, the GOB announced that it would 
transfer land to Kalunga using federal and state funds for 
indemnification.  The announcement came almost five years 
after Goias state officially recognized Kalunga,s authority 
over the 625,000 acres.  The delay in the title process was 
caused by both structural and financial deficiencies. 
Although the GOB recognizes quilombo land as sites of 
national heritage to be protected under the Constitution, 
only recently has the GOB developed a clear plan and funding 
to transfer land to quilombos. 
 
THE STATE OF QUILOMBOS 
---------------------- 
 
¶8. Kalunga,s economic and social problems are indicative of 
quilombos.  There are 746 registered quilombos (with hundreds 
more believed to exist unregistered) with more than 2 million 
people spread across 24 of Brazil's 26 states.  Most of these 
communities are impoverished and without land title.  In 
March 2004, the Palmares Foundation and the University of 
Brasilia published results of a joint study on 156 quilombos. 
 The study showed that the lack of access to basic 
sanitation, treated water, and health care has led to the 
spread of diseases.  Food security is a major concern, as the 
agrarian communities are vulnerable to extremes in weather 
conditions.  There are few schools, and those in operation 
are inadequate.  According to the Palmares Foundation, only 
150 of the 746 quilombos have schools.  The lack of 
infrastructure is one of the biggest impediments to 
integrating quilombos into modern society and lifting them 
from poverty.  As in Kalunga, there are few roads connecting 
quilombos to nearby cities, making travel and commercial 
exchange difficult.  In addition, many quilombos do not have 
electricity or phone lines. 
 
¶9. Quilombo land reform has moved slowly.  In 1995 the first 
land title was transferred to a quilombo - seven years after 
the 1988 Constitution recognized quilombo land rights.  To 
date, only 72 of the 746 quilombos hold land titles. 
 
LULA'S QUILOMBO AGENDA 
----------------------- 
 
¶10. President Lula is a champion of the quilombo cause. 
Since taking office, he has turned over the administration of 
quilombo land reform to INCRA, a more experienced agency in 
land issues than the previous administrator, the Palmares 
Foundation.  (Palmares continues to work in other areas of 
quilombos.)  The transfer of administration allows quilombos 
to be included in the National Plan for Agrarian Reform, 
issued by the GOB in November 2003 (Ref C).  The GOB has 
established measurable goals for quilombo land reform. 
INCRA, with assistance from the Palmares Foundation, is 
charged with completing thirty land transfers by the end of 
this year and 120 by the end of Lula's term in 2006.  Special 
training in handling quilombo land issues has recently been 
provided to INCRA personnel responsible for quilombos.  The 
GOB is also moving to include quilombos in the country's 
social welfare programs, recently making quilombos an area of 
priority for the government's Zero Hunger initiative. 
 
LULA'S CHALLENGES 
----------------- 
 
¶11. The challenge the GOB faces in addressing these issues is 
resources.  There are only three INCRA members in each region 
of Brazil working on quilombo land reform.  The Palmares 
Foundation has only six people (most of who work from 
Brasilia) who cover a plethora of quilombo economic and 
social issues with a meager annual budget of R$ 1 million 
(approximately US$ 333,000).  According to INCRA, the dearth 
of resources and expertise often means that quilombos with 
major land conflicts or with large populations are serviced 
first. 
 
¶12. COMMENT:  Quilombos pose another challenge for the GOB in 
the area of race and poverty.  In a country where racial and 
socioeconomic inequity affects a majority of the population, 
there are never enough resources.  With weak political 
representation and no economic bargaining power, quilombos 
have no leverage to affect change in their own communities. 
As a result, they remain in danger of being prioritized low 
on the GOB's political agenda, even though President Lula has 
shown personal interest in helping quilombos, especially in 
the area of land reform.  However, granting land to quilombos 
is just the beginning.  To develop and modernize quilombos 
will require that the GOB, for years to come, pay special 
attention to these communities.  Public service facilities, 
utilities, job training, and infrastructure are just a few of 
the many basics quilombos still lack.  END COMMENT. 
 
CHICOLA