cafonso%ax@cdp.uucp (10/08/89)
/* Written 10:56 am Oct 3, 1989 by ax:cafonso in cdp:ran.tropictimber */
/* ---------- "NEW ACTION ALERT-- C.MENDES REGIO" ---------- */
AMAZONAS: DEVASTATION AND INPUNITY CONTINUE TO WALK TOGETHER
In spite of the whole world's mobilization in defence of the
Amazon, the picture of devastatation and violence from the great
landowners of the region, continues to rule.
Three days ago the great landowner (fazendeiro) Jarbas Linhares,
decided to deforest an area - at the Seringal (place without
owner abounded with rubber trees) Porongaba, em Brasileia, where
many of the rubber gatherers (seringueiros) families live and work.
- just because he wanted to facilate the entrance to his farm
(fazenda).
He didn't just bring a machine for deforestation, but also a
troop of Police armed even with machine-guns. The workers, who
live at the Seringal Porongaba for many years, and who try to
transform it to an Extractive Reserve (Reserva Extrativista),
decided to resist against the deforestatation because they depend
on the forest for their survival. The landowner is threating to
kill the leaderes of the rubber gatherers workers, and the
situation in the area is very tense.
Meanwhile the deforestation and the burnings of the forest are
continuing very quickly ( in the beginning of 1989, there was
already oficially granted license to burn 26 000 Hectares just in the
state of Acre; this without talking about the thousands of
Hectares which are burned without license, and the Justice is
working very slow.
Nine months have passed since the murder of the trade Union Leader
and ecologist Chico Mendes, but the process against his murderers
are still in the phase om making the judgement.
The Judge in Xapuri concluded that the prisoners comitted a
crime. But the prisoners' lawyer went to the Tribunal de Justica
(The Superior Court) in an attempt to modify the sentence of the
Judge. The final decision has yet not been taken, but we know
that there exists a risk that the murderes of Chico Mendes will
not be judged.
We are asking that all those who defend life and justice, and
who want to contribute to the preservation of the Amazon, that
they put preassure on the brasilian authorities, so that they
give guaranties to the workers in Seringal Porongaba, of their
right to stay in their area without deforestation, without police
violence and without threats to death, and that the murderers of
Chico Mendes shall be punished.
Please, send messages of protests and pressure by telex to the
following authorities (with a copy to the Sindicato dos
Trabalhadores Rurais de Braileia (The Lantworkers Trade Union in
Brasilia) - a/c Osmarino Amancio Rodrigues - R. Xapuri 67,
CEP 69330, Brasileia, Acre, Brasil):
- Presidente Jose Sarney
(55) 614416 or 613117
-Ministro da Justica Saulo Ramos
(55) 611080
-IBAMA - Fernando Cesar Mesquita
(55) 612120 or 611711
-Governador do Acre: Flaviano Melo
(55) 682593 or 682513
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