Brazzil
February 2001
Indians
Indigenous peoples surprised Brazil in the year 2000. In the northeast, southeast, and northern regions, indigenous peoples and communities that had been forced to live in hiding or to disguise their ethnic identity in the past because of the colonialist repression, have shown that they are intent on resisting and building a different history of Brazil. Old indigenous peoples have reemerged as well as urban indigenous communities. Ten peoples that are not included in the records of official population censuses claimed the right to have their ethnic identity respected and their lands demarcated.
The peoples in question and the places they live in are the following: in the north region, the Náua in the National Divisor Mountain Range Park (state of Acre) and the Tupinambá, Maitapú, Aipim and a Mundukuru community in the High Tapajós River (state of Pará); in the southeast region, the Kaxixó in Martinho Campos and Pompeu and the Aranã in the Jequitinhonha Valey (state of Minas Gerais); and in the northeast, another Tupinambá community in Olivença and the Tumbalalá in Abaré and Curaçá (state of Bahia), the Kalankó in Pariconha, the Karuazu in Água Branca (state of Alagoas), and the Pipipã in Ibimirim (state of Penambuco). These indigenous peoples want Funai (Fundação Nacional do Índio—National Foundation of the Indian) to recognize their ethnic identity and respect their constitutional rights.
The indigenous peoples living in cities, who have been suffering acts of prejudice and have been discriminated against by the surrounding society, resent the fact that Funai has not registered their existence. According to official data, there are 366,778 indigenous individuals belonging to 215 indigenous groups in Brazil.
According to the results of a survey carried out by CIMI and reported to the Human Rights Committee of the Organization of American States (OAS), which covered the reemerged peoples and individuals living in cities, the indigenous population in Brazil amounts to 551,210 people belonging to 225 groups. Of these, 358,310 live in villages, 192,000 live in cities or their outskirts, and about 900 live in isolation or have never been contacted by the agency officially in charge of indigenous affairs.
Data provided by Funai suggest that there are at least 50 places in Brazil where indigenous peoples and communities never contacted by the national society can be found.
It's still difficult to determine the exact number of reemerged peoples, since reaffirming their ethnic identities involves a long process. It is likely that in the next few years we will have news of other peoples and communities that had not previously assumed their indigenous identity.
"You've got to overcome your fears to deal with this situation. In order to survive, many indigenous peoples have mingled with established communities and have assumed other identities, while others have simply denied their own ethnic origins. The prospect of recovering traditional territories, and the examples set by other communities, have encouraged many of these peoples to reassume their ethnic identity," speculated Egon Heck, Cimi's executive secretary.
Officially, Funai acknowledges the existence of 563 indigenous areas. However, indigenous communities want 178 additional locations to be included in this list. These are areas claimed by reemerged indigenous peoples and communities that want to expand their villages and/or areas that have been reoccupied by indigenous populations who previously were forced off by invaders. Considering all such cases, there are 741 identified indigenous areas in Brazil.
Reoccupation actions have been furthering the demarcation process. Last year in the southern tip of the state of Bahia, the Pataxó were the indigenous people that most engaged in this kind of movement. Between March and April of 2000, four communities reemerged as a result of their actions, namely, Aldeia Nova, Guaxuma, Águas Belas, and Barra do Caí. All these villages are only waiting for the Technical Group that was set up to demarcate the Pataxó indigenous area to complete its work, leaving the Pascoal Mount, which was reoccupied in August 1999, within its bounds.
Like the Pataxó, six other indigenous peoples have decided to reoccupy indigenous areas: the Kaiová (state of Mato Grosso do Sul), the Guarani (state of Santa Catarina), the Tupinikim and Guarani (state of Espírito Santo), and the Xukuru and Kambiwá (state of Pernambuco). The Guarani of the Araça'í indigenous area and the Pataxó of the Barra do Caí village have been expelled from their traditional land. All the reoccupied areas were invaded while they were being demarcated or even before they were officially demarcated. Others have not been included in the official list of indigenous areas so far.
Reoccupation actions have been marked by violence and conflicts with the civil, military and federal police departments, city halls, farmers, and gunmen. It's a reality not likely to change, not even in the new millennium. "The new history of Brazil will be built with the courage and determination indigenous peoples have shown already. This is a new period in an old fight for respect for the identity of indigenous peoples," says Egon Heck.
This report was originally published by the Indigenist Missionary Council (CIMI).