{"id":3018,"date":"2006-12-12T13:24:25","date_gmt":"2006-12-12T20:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2006\/12\/12\/armchair-activist-20-tremembe-land-rights\/"},"modified":"2006-12-12T13:24:25","modified_gmt":"2006-12-12T20:24:25","slug":"armchair-activist-20-tremembe-land-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=3018","title":{"rendered":"Armchair Activist #20: Tremembe land rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following solidarity campaign comes from Amnesty International. As is obvious from reading the details, AI has marked this campaign as urgent and ask supporters to take actions ASAP.<\/em><\/p>\n

Armed men, reportedly security guards and off-duty military police officers, have been threatening to kill members of the Tremembe indigenous community of Sao Jose and Buriti in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Ceara. The Tremembe are attempting to stop the construction of a vast tourist resort on what they consider to be their ancestral lands. The company is continuing work on the site in defiance of a court order.<\/p>\n

Some 200 Tremembe have been blockading an access road to the site since 10 October, to prevent trucks from delivering materials and equipment. They say that on 4 November a group of armed men, including two off-duty police officers, came to the blockade, saying they were there to matar, prender e algemar (”to kill, seize and handcuff”) them, and drive them off the land. Members of the Tremembe indigenous community have also accused police and company security guards of repeatedly blocking up their well, which they depend on for water, threatening to kill indigenous people fishing in a nearby river, and cutting down banana trees planted by the Tremembe, who are subsistence farmers. The Tremembe have lodged official complaints at their local police station, and the State Attorney of Ceara, but they allege that armed police have been driving around the Tremembe village in company cars, harassing them.
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\nOn 13 November representatives of the federal authorities traveled to the area to mediate between the Tremembe and the construction company. The Federal Police confiscated weapons from company security guards and construction materials from the site, and told the local police to investigate allegations of threats and intimidation against the Tremembe community.<\/p>\n

The Tremembe are beginning the long and complex process of having their ancestral lands recognized as indigenous land, which would give them some protection from exploitation. The process is managed by the government agency responsible for indigenous affairs, FUNAI.<\/p>\n

BACKGROUND INFORMATION<\/strong>
\nIn November 2004, in response to a petition from the Tremembe indigenous community in the state of Ceara, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office lodged an injunction against the company’s license to build a tourist resort, and this was upheld by the Regional Federal Court, prohibiting all construction work until an evaluation of the Tremembe’s claims to their ancestral lands had been completed. Despite this the Tremembe allege that the company, backed by local police, has continued to prepare the land for construction, fencing off areas they intend to build on, burning vegetation and uprooting trees.<\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED ACTION:<\/strong> Please send appeals to arrive as quickly
\nas possible:<\/p>\n