Day 238 - 22 Apr 96 - Page 17
1
2 MR. MORRIS: "They were first expelled from their lands in the
3 Pantanal by a rancher Miguel Gatass in 1925. Those that
4 were not prepared to act as labour on the ranch were forced
5 to seek refuge further in the Pantanal (CIMI/Sul 1993)
6 'Jose Grande was the first one to expel the majority of
7 the Indians ..... some years later when he died the farm
8 passed on to Milton Pessoa and until now he is the owner of
9 the Bella Vista do Norte cattle ranch. He rents some of it
10 to the military and the Indians who still live there are
11 persecuted by the farmer and his cattle' (testimony of
12 Mauba, Guato Indian to CEDIN - the State Council of Indian
13 Rights, Mato Grosso do Sul 1986).
14
15 "The Ofaie Xavante were expelled from their land by the
16 Fazenda Boa Esperanca and reduced to living under
17 tarpaulins in Brasilandia where many work as part time
18 labourers on ranches. (CEDI 1990). Totalling about 25
19 families they continue to press for the recognition of
20 their land."
21
22 Do you know where that is?
23 A. That is 461.
24
25 Q. Continuing to read: "Since the end of the 1950s Kadiweu
26 land was leased out by the Brazilian government to 123
27 farms within the reserve". Do you know where this reserve
28 is?
29 A. That is 154 in the west of the map.
30
31 Q. That is just north of Porto Murtinho?
32 A. Yes.
33
34 Q. "The Indians receive no benefits. In 1990 they set up
35 their own organization and there have been a number of
36 court cases to try and remove the ranchers off Kadiweu land
37 so that the Indians can control their lands themselves.
38 (CEDI 1990). There are still about 90 ranchers on Kadiweu
39 land. Ranchers who wish to annul the demarcation of the
40 Kadiweu reserve have taken a case to the Supreme Court.
41
42 Conclusion
43
44 In my opinion the development of the cattle ranching
45 industry as a whole in Mato Grosso do Sul has had a
46 negative impact on the indigenous peoples of the state. In
47 the last two decades, the industry in Brazil has benefited
48 from government tax incentives, which it has used to expand
49 its frontiers and thus has progressively appropriated
50 indigenous peoples' lands. ('The future of Amazonia -
51 Destruction or Sustainable Development?' eds Goodman and
52 Hall, 1989", and also, "'The Fate of the Forest', Hecht and
53 Cockburn, 1989).
54
55 "In the case of the Guarani Indians, many are reduced to
56 living on reserves which constitute a fraction of the area
57 they occupied at the turn of the century. Local
58 authorities including the government's own Indian
59 organization FUNAI have sided with ranchers to
60 systematically deprive the Guarani of their land and
