“I do not fear for my life because I am doing what I must do"

27/03/2017

Veron was chosen as the representative of his community on this trip by the great Guarani-Kaiowá assembly Aty Guaçu. The objective is to establish ties in Europe with other communities and create an international network which can give support to their cause. They aim to invite member organisations to visit Mato Grosso do Sul and meet with the Guarani-Kaiowá communities and work on joint collaborations. The Guarani-Kaiowá communities are affected by an ordinance of the Brazilian government of Michel Telmer making it more complicated to obtain the legal registration of land and maintain the ones already registered. He additionally denounced the repression they suffer for standing up to the government and reflected on the tumultuous period Brazil is undergoing politically. On 21 March, Ládio Veron spoke at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at an event organised by the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology.

What commercial interests are there in the ancestral lands of the Guarani-Kaiowá communities?

Companies such as Raízes, Burg, Monsanto, etc. cultivate eucalyptus, cellulose, sugar canes and soy. The gas industry is also present there. The residue produced by their factories contaminates our water supply. And many forests are being eliminated by these companies which are not controlled by the government because it is the government itself which works with them so they can use the land. The Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources(IBAMA) should be protecting the forests, but it is not doing so. And the Imasul, the environmental agency of Mato Grosso do Sul, permits the companies to illegally deforest the area. If one day the government returns our land to us, they will give it to us bare and all the work to reforest it will fall on us.

What are the territories you are demanding?

We are fighting to regain small areas, but even so it will be difficult for the government to give them to us. The long wait is also generating a lot of conflict. There is no dialogue between the landowners and our community because immediately after arriving, they began shooting at us. From 2003 to 2014, 385 indigenous leaders were killed.

Your father was one of the leaders who was killed (Marcos Veron was murdered in 2003).

He was a great leader and he helped Lula be elected president. During his first year as president, my father came to Europe and when he returned to Brazil, he was murdered. It was very hard on all of us, but we have continued to fight in his place. I do not know what awaits me when I go back. I am sure that there are companies and members of parliament who are furious about the fact that I am here. But I do not fear for my life because I am doing what I must do: explain the truth so that our European brothers can become aware of what is happening in Mato Grosso do Sul.

Your lands, however, have been recognised as being yours.

The recognition of land is based on anthropological studies which were published in the Union’s Official Gazette. The minister of justice himself gave his approval and acknowledged that those lands were indigenous lands. They should now continue to the validation and demarcation of the lands, and turn them over to us. But they do not want to specify anything because they see a business opportunity. We still have a long struggle ahead of us.

You spoke during the conference about a very difficult social reality: high infant mortality rate, suicides, etc.

We are a source of cheap labour, many indigenous work in the sugar cane fields. And today machines are taking over the work. There is no work and it is difficult to maintain our children. In the trade sector, no one wants to hire an indigenous. Some end up committing suicide because they lose all hope. Among the communities living in the camps, many children die from lack of food. We do not have resources because we cannot cultivate the land. There is the SESAI (Special Indigenous Health Department) especially for the indigenous; but it is only a name, it offers no meaningful help. Some children die on their way to the hospital while they are being carried in their mothers arms.

They also have to deal with the paramilitary.

There are five militias and each of them are made up of then thousand soldiers who are prepared to evict us from our lands, together with the police, the army and the federal police as soon as a judge gives the order to do so. The threat of evicting us is very hard to bear, because they will not warn us beforehand; they will simply appear and force us to leave. And an eviction means we will lose everything; we will not even have a canvas to camp under. We try to video record these attacks, but the police does not let us.

Has the relationship between the Guarani-Kaiowá communities and the government changed since President Rousseff was removed from office and Temer stepped in?

It will not change until we recover our land. Temer's government is not helping. At least with Lula and Djilma, there was a bit of support, even if it was very little. Lula sent a team out to gather a census so that each family could receive economic help. But with Temer in power, almost all these aids have been blocked.

Where else in Europe will you be travelling?

I will be travelling to twelve countries to expose what is happening in Mato Grosso do Sul. We only want our land to work it, build our houses, raise our children, follow our traditions, etc. The government, however, is going from bad to worse. There are many demonstrations in Brazil and I do not see a way out for the country. Temer kicked Djilma out of office and that is why so many people are protesting: the indigenous movement, the landless workers' movement, the black movement, the quilombola movement... Social movements all over the country are in the streets shouting "Out with Temer!"