Brazil’s Tapeba Indians Want Their Land Back

For many years, the Brazilian State claimed that there were no indigenous people in the state of Ceará. During the 1980s, the process of reorganizing the indigenous peoples in this state made society aware of a resistance that had lasted for centuries.

According to the missionary Alexandre Fonseca, who works in the state, official figures indicate that there is a population of 15,000 indigenous people, but Cimi (Indianist Missionary Council) works with estimates of up to 30,000 indigenous people.


They live in settlements and also in urban centers such as Fortaleza, the capital of Ceará state. “In spite of there being a total of 14 peoples, Funai (the National Indigenous Foundation) recognizes only four of the peoples in Ceará,” says Fonseca.


In Ceará, as in all of Brazil, land has been acquired as the result of invasion and resistance.


Four years ago, the Tapeba people reoccupied some land areas in the municipality of Caucaia, where the Lagoa I settlement is situated today.


According to their leaders, in November 2004, a land grabber, who claimed to own the land, appeared together with the Military Police and tried to expel the indigenous people and sell the land, but was not successful.


Reports from indigenous people tell of violence on the part of the Police. 


According to Alexandre Fonseca, this violence was reported by the Tapeba and by the Human Rights Defense Center in the Diocese of Fortaleza.


According to an indigenous woman, Claudênia Silva dos Reis, the courts turned down a petition for a land rights order requested by the farmer.


The land of the Tapeba people was identified in 2004, but this has still not been published in the Diário Oficial (Official Gazette).


Another Tapeba group, from the Trilho settlement, which is also located in the municipality of Caucaia, reoccupied some land areas on November 22.


Elizabete Tapeba, an indigenous teacher, spoke about the organization of her people.


“Our main objective, lately, has been the demarcation of our land,” she says. “We are not taking anything from anybody, we are after our rights, which were the rights of our forefathers and which we are now looking to get back,” she concluded.


Cimi ”“ Indianist Missionary Council
www.cimi.org.br

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil’s Supreme Rebuffs Congress on Electoral Rule

Brazil’s Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal) (STF), acting on a suit brought by the ...

With 32 Deaths and 40,000 Dengue Cases Bahia Appeals to Brazil Government

Dengue, the mosquito-transmitted disease, which has ravaged Bolivia, Paraguay, North Argentina (and now threatens ...

Brazil Shuts Down Over 1,000 Pirate Radios, But Thousands Are Still on the Air

This year, Brazil’s  Anatel (Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações – Telecommunications Regulatory Agency) has stepped ...

Tax Cuts and Spending Caps to Make Brazil Grow 5% a Year

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ordered his top advisers yesterday to craft ...

Brazil and Argentina Try to Smooth Bilateral Trade Edges

Brazil and Argentina gathered in Buenos Aires spent two days in high level negotiations, ...

In Brazil 10% (18 Million) Are Indigent. Argentina and Mexico Have It Worse.

A quarter of the Latinamerican population subsists on less than US$ 2 per day, ...

Brasil Telecom Gets Half a Million DSL Clients in Brazil

Brasil Telecom S.A. announced that the company ended 2004 with 535,500 customers for its ...

Brazil and Vietnam Exchange Favors

During his visit to São Paulo, the president of Vietnam, Tran Duc Luong, declared ...

Brazil Starts August with US$ 904 Million Foreign Trade Surplus

Brazil exported the equivalent to US$ 2.333 billion in the first week of August ...

Steep Fall in Commodity Prices Sends Brazilian Stocks Deep into Red

Brazilian stocks  plunged alongside a broader tumble amid emerging markets, as investors  continue to ...