Day 238 - 22 Apr 96 - Page 13
1 ancestral lands through Courts which are slow and
2 bureaucratic"?
3 A. I would just like to add here that the whole question
4 of land tenure in this State and in Brazil as a whole is a
5 very complex issue. Brazil has one of the most unequal
6 distributions of land in the world with roughly 1 percent
7 of the population owning approximately 50 percent of the
8 territory of the country.
9
10 In Mato Grosso do Sul you have, as in other States, what
11 are called latifundistas which are large extensions of land
12 which are owned by one person or one family. The whole
13 question of the latifundia is very closely linked to the
14 political situation, so I think it is important, when
15 considering what is happening in Mato Grosso do Sul, is
16 that the ranching industry is a very powerful industry
17 which has very strong political connections.
18
19 Over the Century, progressively indigenous lands have been
20 taken over by the ranching industry as a whole, so now when
21 you look at the map of indigenous reserves they do not
22 necessarily correspond to what are recognised in the
23 Brazilian Constitution as original rights and, at the
24 moment, there is a huge amount of conflict and one of the
25 tasks that the Courts and the Federal Government Agency,
26 which is in charge of indigenous lands, has to do is to
27 determine the extent of occupation and the original rights
28 of the indigenous peoples. So even though on the map which
29 has been circulated, the areas which are demarcated, or
30 officially recognised, do not necessarily correspond to the
31 original rights of historic occupation of the land.
32
33 Q. So this map here, which is the other map with all the black
34 around the border, Mato Grosso do Sul, what is that from
35 again?
36 A. That is from the CEDI, the CEDI Book, which is about
37 indigenous peoples. It is a compilation on ----
38
39 Q. This is the situation now?
40 A. Yes.
41
42 Q. And the circles on that map, they are the designated
43 official reserves?
44 A. Yes. There may be other areas where indigenous people
45 live which are not necessarily designated on that map and
46 those areas, some of them have not been officially
47 recognised. They are either in the process of being
48 recognised or in the process of being identified, so, as I
49 said, some may not appear on the map.
50
51 Q. Continuing to read:
52
53 "In the last decade there has been much conflict as many
54 of the remaining Indian lands are increasingly under threat
55 from cattle ranchers, farmers, settlors and loggers.
56 Powerful local political and economic interests often
57 prevent the Indians from inhabiting and using their lands.
58 Much land has already been devastated by the impact of
59 (Cultural Survival Quarterly 1994). Indian areas which
60 have not been appropriated or invaded are often too small
