From: riomariausa@igc.apc.org (Madeleine Adriance)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.brazil
Subject: Rio Maria Bulletin
Date: 10 Jan 93 19:07:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1598900100:000:12326
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!riomariausa    Jan 10 11:07:00 1993


               R I O   M A R I A   B U L L E T I N

Volume II, Number 3                          January, 1992


                         URGENT ACTION

On December 11 three men invaded the home of a rural worker,
Joao de Araujo Suriano, in the municipal district of Rio
Maria.  They shot his wife, Dona Julieta, and her brother,
Antonio Simao da Silva.  Dona Julieta was killed.  Antonio
survived and identified the assailants as cowhands of the
Jacutinga ranch.  The shooting was apparently harassment of
rural workers who occupy a portion of the land claimed by
the owner of the ranch.  It occurred while they were in the
process of negotiating terms of rental of the property.

Father Henri des Roziers, legal advisor for the Rio Maria
Committee, has requested letters to government authorities,
asking for information about the investigation of the crime. 
Suggested texts in English and Portuguese follow, along with
addresses of persons to whom the letters should be sent.


     Your Excellency:

     I am writing to request information about the
     investigation of a crime which occurred in Rio
     Maria, PA, on December 11.  According to a
     bulletin from the Pastoral Land Commission, the
     home of a rural worker, Joao de Araujo Suriano,
     was invaded by three gunmen believed to be
     employees of the Jacutinga ranch.  The gunmen
     shot and killed Mr. Araujo Suriano's wife, Dona
     Julieta, and wounded his brother-in-law, Antonio
     Simao da Silva.  This shooting is of particular
     concern because of its relationship to the
     context of rural violence in Rio Maria.

                                         Respectfully,


     Vossa Excelencia:

     Escrevemos para pedir informacao sobre a apuracao
     de um crime que aconteceu em Rio Maria (PA) no
     dia 11 de dezembro.  Conforme um boletim da
     Comissao Pastoral da Terra, a casa de um
     trabalhador rural, Joao de Araujo Suriano, foi
     invadido por tres pistoleiros conhecidos como
     vaqueiros da Fazenda Jacutinga.  Atiraram e
     mataram Dona Julieta, esposa de Sr. Araujo
     Suriano, e feriram o seu cunhado, Antonio Simao
     da Silva.  Ficamos especialmente preocupados por
     causa da relacao entre este crime e o contexto da
     violencia no campo em Rio Maria.

                                       atenciosamente,


Please send the letters to:

Exmo. Sr. Dr. Marcio Corre^a     Exmo. Sr. Dr. Jader Barbalho
Ministro da Justica              Governador do Estado do Para
Esplanada dos Ministerios        Palacio Lauro Sodre
70000 Brasilia, D.F., Brasila    Praca Dom Pedro II, S/N
(Fax: 011-55-61-321-5145)        66000 Belem, PA, Brasil
                                 (Fax: 011-55-91-222-3910)


Please send copies of the letters to:

Ambassador Rubens Recupero       Padre Ricardo Rezende
Brazilian Embassy                Casa Paroquial
3006 Massachusetts Ave., NW      Caixa Postal 7
Washington, D.C. 20008           68530 Rio Maria, PA, Brasil
     

EVICTION FROM LAND

Just as this newsletter was being prepared we learned that
on January 6 Military Police assisted by hired gunmen
evicted rural workers from the Deuta estate in Rio Maria,
where they had been living and working the land for three
years.  Houses were burned and two people were arrested.


NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS

Some of you may be wondering why there have not been many
issues of the Rio Maria Bulletin during the past six months. 
There were actually very few fax messages from Rio Maria
during that time, and these did not contain any urgent
action requests.  These requests are most often focused on
seven court cases related to assassinations or attempted
assassinations of union leaders.  Thanks to the letters that
you sent in response to previous appeals, there has been
real progress in these cases, as indicated in the October
bulletin.

The most recent fax from Rio Maria contains a note of thanks
from Andre Monteiro Mayr, chair of the committee.  Andre
writes:
The solidarity of all of you has been fundamental
in our struggle.  The commitment and dedication
of our supporters is like a ferment in our search
for better times. ...  Hundreds of letters come
from all over. ...We hope to see continued
perseverance in the coming year--the kind of
perseverance that will bring about a better
world.


WHAT NEXT?

Along with celebrating the positive results of all the
letters that supporters have sent, it is important to
reflect on the broader context of our efforts.  The killings
in Rio Maria in recent years have been the most dramatic
manifestation of the violence to which rural people in
Brazil are subjected, but there are also the slower deaths
caused by poor nutrition and the lack of health care. 
Farmers who succeed in gaining a small plot of land have to
farm it by hand because there is no technical or financial
assistence available to enable them to use modern methods. 
Lacking transportation and decent roads, they are unable to
market their crops and as a result must deal with middlemen
who pay them very little. Many farmers, unable to support
their families under these conditions, have sold their land
for low prices, often to large ranchers, and have migrated
to cities, where they discover that jobs are scarce.  In
many regions the Pastoral Land Commission has been working
to find ways to help small farmers to stay on the land,
although it appears that the government's policy of
providing virtually no infrastructure in rural areas is
aimed at the opposite.

It is difficult to determine how people outside of Brazil
can help with these aspects of the rural workers' struggle. 
We can hope, however, that our efforts to put an end to
violence against those who try to mobilize poor farmers will
enable them to work at finding solutions to these other
problems.

If the union leaders in Rio Maria continue to be free of
attempts on their lives, we may begin to direct our
attention to neighboring regions, as reflected in the two
urgent action requests in the October bulletin.

There is another area of great need in Rio Maria --
financial support of the families of assassination victims. 
For example, the widow and eleven children of Expedito
Ribeiro de Souza have had great difficulty surviving since
his death.  Although the Rio Maria Committee of the United
States has not placed a great deal of emphasis on fund
raising, we would be happy to forward any contributions
earmarked for the relief of victims' families.


RESULTS OF RECENT LETTERS

Nivaldo Vieira de Nascimento, the staff member of the
Pastoral Land Commission in Conceicao do Araguaia who was
shot in an assassination attempt in August, is alive, well
and very happy about the large number of letters that were
written on his behalf.  At the present time he is receiving
police protection.  The person acused of attempting to kill
him has fled to Sao Paulo.  While it would have been more
desirable to have seen this man arrested again, tried and
convicted, we can at least be happy that Nivaldo is out of
immediate danger.

The situation of Francisco Moura ("Didi") is a little more
ambiguous.  The result of our letters and those sent by
members of Amnesty International was a police investigation,
which, if one were to accept the word of Governor Moises
Avelino of the state of Tocantins, proved that Didi was not
in need of protection.  There is not enough space in this
bulletin to go into all the reasons why one may doubt the
credibility of Governor Avelino.  Suffice it to say that
church people close to the situation believe that Didi has
been in danger of being killed.  (Persons who would like
more details on this case may contact Madeleine Adriance,
address below.)  We can only hope that the high volume of
letters sent on Didi's behalf will serve to advise the
ranchers in the Bico do Papagaio region that many people are
taking an interest in his longevity.


ANOTHER VICTORY FOR JUSTICE

Lawyers in Rio Maria have been working for some time for the
removal of the local judge, Jose Candido de Moraes, and have
finally succeeded.  Although it appears that the Court of
Justice of Para, in removing Moraes, compensated him with
some kind of promotion, at least he will no longer be around
to stall every case that comes through the district court of
Rio Maria.


BRITISH GUESTS IN RIO MARIA

Mark Kent, the U.K.'s ambassador to Brazil, and the British
journalist Bianca de Breton spent four days in December
visiting the south of Para, mainly Conceicao do Araguaia and
Rio Maria. They participated in meetings with the Pastoral
Land Commission, with the Rio Maria Committee and with rural
workers and victims of violence.  Ms. de Breton plans to
include this information in a book that she is writing. 
Ambassador Kent said that he would speak with Brazilian
authori,ties regarding the principal legal cases.


FATHER RICARDO'S BOOK IN ENGLISH

It appears very likely that the translation of Father
Ricardo Rezende's book, Rio Maria - Canto da Terra,
will be done during the coming year, although no
contracts have as yet been signed.  Watch future
bulletins for further information.


LOOKING BACK AND AHEAD
1992 has been conspicuously different from the two previous
years in relation to the degree of violence in Rio Maria. 
Although the above urgent action request would seem to
contradict this, there has been a decrease in one type of
violence--paid killings of unionists and progressive
political leaders.  The murder of rural poor people, such as
Dona Julieta, who happen to be in the way of someone's
expansion plans remains all too common.  On the other hand,
1990 and 1991 represented a period of alarm in Rio Maria
because of the sudden increase in planned assassinations of
specific individuals, along with threats against the lives
of Luzia Canuto, Carlos Cabral, Orlando Canuto, Roberto
Neto, Sebastiao Vieira and Father Ricardo Rezende.   After
the removal of Federal Police protection for the union
leaders in the fall of 1991, followed by a flood of letters
demanding that it be restored, 1992 saw the consistent
providing of that protection for those who needed it.  There
was also gradual progress in court cases, some of which had
been stalled for years.  Father Henri des Roziers, one of
the attorneys responsible for the legal work of the Rio
Maria Committee, is quietly optimistic about the trials
expected to take place during 1993, those connected with the
assassinations of Expedito Ribeiro de Souza and of the
Canuto brothers, as well as of the attempt against Carlos
Cabral.


HAVE SLIDES, WILL TRAVEL

The new Rio Maria slide show is now ready.  Persons who
would like to have a presentation at their church, college
or other organization within fifty miles of Boston may
contact Madeleine Adriance.  Commentary is available in
English or Portuguese.  We request a donation, which may
vary in amount according to the resources of the host
organization, to help support the work of the Rio Maria
Committee.  However, an interested group will not be refused
because of lack of funds.


CARE TO JOIN US?

The Rio Maria Committee of the United States is composed of
a small group of friendly people who manage to get things
done, in spite of the fact that we seem to prefer socia-
bility to "serious" business.  We keep the number of
meetings to a minimum and try to divide the work in such a
way that no one feels heavily burdened.  From time to time
committee members move out of state, become overextended in
other areas of their lives or undergo other changes that
prevent them from remaining with us.  So we always welcome
new members.  The things that we do include writing and
printing this bulletin, mailing it, translating materials
from Portuguese to English and vice versa, giving slide
presentations and looking for creative new ideas for
outreach and fundraising.  If you'd like to join us, please
call or write to the address below.  If we don't have a
meeting planned in the near future, maybe we'll organize a
get-together to welcome you.


The Rio Maria Bulletin disseminates information received
directly from the central committee based in Rio Maria,
Brazil, as well as from Amnesty International and from the
computer networks of the Association for Progressive Com-
munication.  Comments and inquiries may be sent to riomariausa@igc.org. 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.brazil