Indigenous communities of Espírito Santo finally retrieve their land

After years of Tupinikims’ and Guaranís’ land struggle, supported by an international letter campaign of FIAN International, on August 28 this year, the Brazilian Minister of Justice declared 18,070 hectares in the municipality of Aracruz, Espírito Santo, as indigenous lands. The indigenous communities celebrate the achievements of their efforts to obtain the land that is rightfully theirs.

More than 30 years ago, Aracruz Cellulose corporation destroyed around 35 indigenous villages in the state of Espírito Santo, expelling their inhabitants, in order to establish huge eucalyptus plantations for the large scale production of cellulose. The expansion of eucalyptus destroyed the livelihoods of many communities, such as the Tupinikims and Guaranís. In Brazil, plantations of Aracruz Cellulose, which today is the world leader in the production of bleached cellulose from eucalyptus, cover more than 375.000 hectares of land. The intensive cultivation of eucalyptus has not only caused rivers to dry up, which makes the access to water increasingly difficult, but also the impoverishment of the soils and even desertification. Apart from the insupportable smell, the processing units cause health problems in the indigenous communities due to air pollution.

Indigenous communities have been struggling to obtain their land for long years. In 1998 they were only allotted 7,061 hectares of the 18,070 that are rightfully theirs. In May 2005, tired of waiting for so long to recover their land, the Tupinikims and Guaranís concluded a self-demarcation of those lands, which in 1994 and 1998 were identified as indigenous territories by the anthropologists of the Brazilian government’s Indigenous Institute FUNAI.

The journey was everything but easy for the indigenous people. In its counterattacks, Aracruz threatened supporters of the indigenous struggles and in January 2006, in an action assisted by the federal police, destroyed and burnt down houses of the indigenous communities. Consequently Tupinikim and Guaraní families were forcibly evicted from their lands, and several people were injured.

A month later, FIAN International launched an urgent action letter campaign. After a long struggle for the regularization of these territories, a few weeks ago, on August 28, the Brazilian Minister of Justice, Tarso Genro declared 18,070 hectares in Aracruz, Espírito Santo as indigenous lands. By means of this decision, provisions of the Brazilian Constitution and of international treaties and conventions such as ILO-Convention 169 are being implemented, granting the indigenous people their survival and their right to feed themselves.

As the seven villages celebrate, Tupinkinim and Guaraní chiefs declared that this victory, guaranteeing the future for their children, is a result of their union combined with strong support by a network both in Brazil as well as outside Brazil, among them FIAN International. Future monitoring has to make sure that this decision will really be implemented and that Tupinikims and Guaranís can take effective possession of their land. What has to be done now is physical demarcation of the 18,070 hectares, recognition of the demarcation by the President of the Republic and registration in the register’s office.