Invaders of Indian lands, particularly farmers, were directly involved in 21 murders, while gold prospectors were directly involved in four of them. But demarcation only is not enough. The Brazilian Government must also take direct measures to remove all invaders from those lands, since they are directly responsible for the aggressive acts committed on a daily basis against the Indian peoples. In Brazil, the fact that a land is demarcated does not mean thant it is free from the presence of invaders. And the removal of these illegal invaders will only be possible in the framework of a well-defined government policy in relation to Indian peoples, which until now does not exist in practice.
Impunity is another cause of so many murders.
CIMI has raised information acccording to which in connection with only 11 of the 27 murders occurred last year some kind of legal measure was taken to punish the guilty ones. But only the persons involved in two of the murders were actually arrested. Most of the suicides involved young Indians and the preferred method was hanging. A Makuxi youth committed suicide in order not to be arrested for a second time. Once he had been accused of theft, detained and taken to the Penitentiary of Boa Vista, capital of Roraima, where he was ill-treated by other prisioners and by policemen as well.