VZCZCXRO3777
PP RUEHRG
DE RUEHSO #0039/01 0290941
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 290941Z JAN 08
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7852
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 9006
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 3289
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 3041
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 2595
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 3699
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0658
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 2292
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 3977
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 8557
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC

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.