VZCZCXRO3477
PP RUEHRG
DE RUEHSO #0177/01 0951010
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041010Z APR 08
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8111
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 9244
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 3359
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 1670
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 3112
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0716
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 3769
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 1216
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 2664
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 2360
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 4067
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 8669
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 000177 
 
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: INDIGENOUS RIGHTS ABUSES INCREASE IN MATO GROSSO DO SUL 
STATE 
 
REF: A) Sao Paulo 39 B) Sao Paulo 117 C) Sao Paulo 170 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Mato Grosso do Sul's indigenous population faces some of 
the harshest conditions among the native populations of Brazil. 
Government officials and landowners deny the extent of human rights 
abuses occurring in the state, but activists and the indigenous 
themselves recount stories of land theft, forced labor, beatings, 
and murder.  As the size of the state's indigenous population grows 
and comes into increasing contact with the non-native Brazilian 
farmers and ranchers, opportunities for mistreatment are increasing. 
 Mato Grosso do Sul State's indigenous conflicts demonstrate the 
need for more forceful actions by the Government of Brazil.  End 
Summary. 
 
Dourados and Kaiowa Guarani "Disaster" 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), whose name means "southern thick 
forest,"  is a state of approximately 2.3 million inhabitants 
situated on the borders of Bolivia and Paraguay in Brazil's 
central-west region.  MS is home to 60,000 native Brazilians, the 
second largest indigenous population in Brazil after Amazonas State 
in the country's north.  During a three-day visit by Poloff to Mato 
Grosso do Sul State, Catholic University of Dom Bosco Professor 
Antonio Brandt, one of Brazil's most prominent historians of the 
indigenous, presented an overview of the community's struggle in the 
state's southern region.  Indigenous residents from the Kaiowa 
Guarani tribe located near the city of Dourados live in some of the 
worst conditions in Brazil.  Calling the situation there a 
"disaster," Brandt repeated stories regularly highlighted in the 
media noting severe malnutrition, particularly among children; 
extreme poverty and lack of healthcare; rampant alcoholism; violent 
crime; and, most infamously, a regular pattern of suicides.  Brandt 
blamed Brazil's decision in 1928 to create eight indigenous 
reservations on a tiny portion of their traditional homelands as the 
culmination of a long series of discriminatory acts against the 
indigenous.  Because the government believed the native Brazilians 
would assimilate into the general population, the GOB did not grant 
the indigenous sizeable territories in the state.  When white 
farmers began planting soy in large quantities in the 1950s and 
1960s, and sugar mills began operating in the 1980s in the region, 
the Kaiowa Guarani found themselves forced onto even smaller living 
spaces. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Brandt explained that the continued displacement and 
removal of indigenous peoples from native lands in the 1980s and 
1990s directly led to a high rate of suicide similar to that 
recorded during the period of the European arrival and Jesuit 
mission expansion.  In one reservation of 9000, more than 160 
Guarani committed suicide between 1990 and 1999, a rate that was 26 
times higher than in the general Brazilian population at the time. 
(Note: During the week Poloff visited the state, local media covered 
a story in which an indigenous teenager unable to find work shot 
himself in the face in front of his parents.  Out of desperation at 
seeing his only son take his own life, the child's father took the 
rifle and killed himself at his wife's side.  End Note.) 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Human rights contacts told Poloff that the Dourados area 
indigenous, who have insufficient land to follow their traditional 
practices including growing crops, and no access to natural food 
sources from rivers and forests, are also facing the murder of 
community leaders by white farmer-hired mercenaries who seek to 
extend their lands.  Additionally, the indigenous are forced to 
reside in areas not able to accommodate their numbers (12000 
indigenous live on less than 3000 hectares); lack educational, 
 
SAO PAULO 00000177  002 OF 004 
 
 
vocational or leisure opportunities for youth; have no job 
availability for adults; and completely rely on government subsidies 
including food baskets.  These "reservations" are too small for such 
populations to sustain themselves through traditional methods. 
Brandt said that the government's National Foundation for the Indian 
(FUNAI) has a responsibility to improve the situation, including 
demarcation of the Guarani Kaiowa territories and then buying back 
lands sold to farmers.  (Note: Unfortunately, in some case evens, 
congressionally-demarcated lands have been kept from indigenous 
occupation by Supreme Court injunction, demonstrating the political 
power of local landowners.  End Note.) 
 
Terena Indigenous Also Face Challenges 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Aivone Carvalho, a Catholic University of Dom Bosco 
anthropologist and historian of indigenous culture, further 
highlighted the dire situation of the indigenous in MS as a whole. 
Carvalho, who is the curator of the Dom Bosco Museum, a research and 
cultural institution preserving tribal heritages and receiving 
support and training from the Smithsonian Institution, said that the 
Brazilian Government gives limited support to the indigenous and 
when it does distribute some assistance to the states or cities to 
help native Brazilian communities, politicians and public officials 
squander the funding for unrelated programs or outright "steal the 
money". 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Poloff traveled with Carvalho to Bokoti (or Mbokoti, 
"Cachoeirinha" in Portuguese, meaning "small waterfall"), inhabited 
by about 5000 indigenous Brazilians from the Terena tribe.  The 
community of five indigenous villages, surrounded by productive 
pasturelands typical of land that has turned the state into an 
agricultural powerhouse, is a paradigm of the type of situation that 
often leads to violent conflict between white farmers and indigenous 
Brazilians.  Along the edge of Bokoti is the large estate of former 
state Governor and Senator Pedro Pedrossian.  According to Carvalho, 
Bokoti residents and other indigenous rights activists familiar with 
the local situation, Pedrossian's farm occupies hectares of land 
claimed by the Terena.  The former politician's land holdings grow 
each year at the expense of the Terena who do not have access to 
judges and politicians approving or recognizing demarcation 
boundaries.  (Note: Poloff was unable to independently verify these 
accusations.  End Note.) 
 
¶7.  (SBU) When visiting the grouping of villages itself, Poloff saw 
a well-organized and inviting collection of modest homes, but as 
throughout Brazil, the public school was dilapidated and job 
opportunities scarce.  Unlike in many other indigenous communities, 
however, a National Foundation for Health (FUNASA) clinic provides 
services to residents with a full-time nurse and a physician who 
visits 2-3 times a week.  (Comment: The clinic and staff are a huge 
government concession to Bokoti: many indigenous villages throughout 
Brazil are lucky to have any medical support at all, let alone 
regular staffing.  Bokoti's relatively large population and the 
Terena's history of support for the GOB stretching back to the 
nineteenth century likely help explain why FUNASA has such a 
presence in the community.  End Comment.) 
 
Conflicts Exist Throughout State 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Paulo Angelo de Souza, president of the Marcal de Souza 
Center for Human Rights (CDHMS), stressed that Bokoti is atypical in 
its organization and government support and is not representative of 
the state and national struggle for native Brazilian rights.  Souza 
repeated statements made by others that the Terena have historically 
sought to accommodate living side-by-side with outsiders and have 
been willing to negotiate even when their land was being taken from 
them.  Echoing previous contacts on indigenous rights, Souza said 
that demarcation of their territories is the most important 
 
SAO PAULO 00000177  003 OF 004 
 
 
concession the indigenous need today.  In MS, the demarcation battle 
has turned particularly violent, Souza said, noting an increase in 
what appear to be hired assassinations by non-native Brazilian 
farmers.  Activists recorded a total of 20 land dispute murders in 
2006 in the state and Souza claimed that in 2007, out of a total of 
76 land dispute assassinations nation-wide, 48 indigenous were 
murdered in MS alone.  (Note: The Catholic Church-affiliated 
Indigenous Missionary Council, CIMI, one of the most respected 
organizations working for indigenous rights, also uses these 
figures.  End Note.) 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Highlighting additional cases of native Brazilian 
mistreatment, Souza said that drug traffickers from Paraguay take 
advantage of those indigenous who live on the Brazilian side of the 
border to bring in illegal substances (Note: This problem is not 
unique to MS: FUNAI has highlighted Ticuna tribe members being used 
as cocaine traffickers in Amazonas State near the Peruvian and 
Colombian borders.  End Note.)  Souza added that forced labor is 
sometimes an issue as well because indigenous Brazilians do not 
always have an understanding of modern labor protections (Ref B).  A 
recent case in an ethanol and sugar mill near the municipality of 
Rio Brilhante exposed the fact that 700 indigenous were working in 
sub-human conditions, Souza said.  (Note: Media reports highlight 
that indigenous workers are used in forced labor in various states 
throughout Brazil.  End Note.) 
 
¶10.  (U) On March 18 members of a United Nations team which had 
published a human rights report in March 2007 on Brazil publicly 
admonished the country for ignoring the UN's requests for 
information regarding violations of indigenous rights.  UN Special 
Rapporteur on Adequate Housing Miloon Kothari complained that the 
GOB was not following up to guarantee the indigenous adequate 
territory or other basic freedoms.  His report also specified cases 
such as when landowner-hired mercenaries raped an indigenous mother 
as they simultaneously beat her husband and son.  According to the 
same report, local police officers also attacked some of the 
family's tribesman, claiming that the community planned to invade 
neighboring white-owned farms.  However, the GOB alleges that it has 
responded to all of Kothari's reports, detailing the indigenous 
situation in general and in all specific cases mentioned in the 
document. 
 
Indigenous Rights from Another Perspective 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Jose Mandu, Supervisor for Intelligence of the MS State 
Secretariat for Justice and Public Security (SEJUSP) dismissed human 
 
SIPDIS 
rights complaints about conflicts between the indigenous and 
farmers.  Responding to allegations of violence targeting native 
Brazilians, Mandu claimed that this is a historical rather than a 
current phenomenon.  While admitting that drug trafficking is a 
serious public security concern due to MS's porous borders (Ref C), 
Mandu said he had no concrete evidence the indigenous were being 
used as "mules" to bring in narcotics.  Finally, addressing land 
conflicts, Mandu claimed that according to SEJUSP statistics, only 
one violent clash occurred last year, resulting in one indigenous 
death.  (Comment: this figure is in stark contrast to that presented 
by human rights activists and indigenous contacts, possibly because 
Mandu did not want to admit the gravity of the situation in light of 
a visit of a U.S. Consulate officer.  End Note.) 
 
¶12.  (SBU) First Secretary Dacio Queiroz da Silva of the Federation 
of Agriculture and Livestock (FAMASUL), an organization that 
represents the state's large landowners, also refuted claims that 
major issues existed between farmers and the indigenous.  Noting 
that he was also president of FAMASUL's Technical Committee on 
Indigenous and Land Issues, Silva stated that the relationship 
between farmers and native Brazilians has improved significantly in 
the past few years.  According to Silva, landowners do not oppose 
indigenous rights.  Native Brazilians, however, cannot expand their 
 
SAO PAULO 00000177  004 OF 004 
 
 
land while violating farmers' property rights.  He argued that in 
many cases, the indigenous, seeking to acquire new territories, 
claim without providing concrete evidence that their tribes 
inhabited certain areas and therefore have ownership rights. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶13.  (SBU) The indigenous rights situation in MS is much more than a 
"he said, she said" dispute between people who see things in a 
fundamentally different way.  Both the indigenous murder rate and 
the UN inquiry highlight the serious human rights abuses to which 
the native Brazilian population is subjected in the state and, in 
fact, throughout the country.  It remains incumbent upon the 
Government of Brazil to seek solutions to these problems. 
Completion of land demarcations, offering training and opportunities 
in understanding the community's rights and obligations, and 
enhancing public security measures will help ameliorate the 
situation.  The one thing that remains clear is that without a more 
proactive stance by the GOB, this issue will not solve itself.  End 
Comment. 
 
WHITE