Brazil: the Waimiri-Atroari tribe and the massacre of the dictatorship to make a journey in the Amazon – 03/09/2019

The first helicopters arrived and they dropped chemical bombs. Then they came men with guns and green uniforms and proceeded to kill Indian people in the Amazon make room for an important route, the BR-174.

Bare Bornaldo Waimiri, then a teenage member of the Waimiri-Atroari tribe, who lives deep in the Brazilian Amazon, said that the day of the attack, many years ago, he was the last to see his family alive.

Bornaldo, now an adult, described the horrific scene at a historic hearing held last week.

His testimony put the spotlight on the army of Brazil (What denies attacking the tribe) and clarified Constant tension between development and preservation in the largest country of Latin America.

This episode happens while the president of the far right Jair Bolsonaro he gives a leading role to the army in his government and puts an end to the new demarcation of indigenous lands in the Amazon.

Horrors unfolding

"I lost my father, my mother, my sister and my brother"Bornaldo said in a very low voice, wearing shorts and hitting his sandals on the floor while two translators wrote their words in Portuguese.

The public gathered in a thatched cone hut where the Waimiri-Atroari usually celebrate colorful feasts and long prayer sessions.

During the day last week, this construction was transformed into a shady court where 6 elders explained to a judge how the military dictatorship of 1964-1985 had tried, for many years, eradicate them with weapons, bombs and chemicals.

The Associated Press and a local newspaper were the only media allowed to attend. Usually at Non-tribal members are not allowed to enter the expanding reserve, which is the size of Israel and lies between the states of Amazonas and Roraima.

Tribal members and prosecutors said it was the first time that a judge was allowed to hear witnesses on the Waimiri-Atroari lands to talk about several alleged attacks for years. The leaders said their goal was to face the past and avoid future incursions.

"To turn this page, we must all read the book"said tribal leader Mario Parwe Atroari.

The majority of indigenous tribes who claim atrocities during the dictatorship are reluctant to give a full account of incidents in urban courts because they do not trust non-indigenous people.

Some also fear being sued for their own attacks against state agents and missionaries.

While members of the tribe nodded to Bornaldo's testimony, half a dozen uniformed soldiers remained silent.

Retired Colonel Hiram Reis e Silva, wearing a white-collar shirt and jeans, He shook his head when the witnesses spoke. Reis e Silva, who reported working near the reserve after 1982, was in the name of the army.

"My version of the story is very different," said Reis e Silva. "There are exaggerations, we hope the truth is restored."

"I also have several witnesses who were pioneers in the construction of the road (BR-174) and who deny everything," added Reis e Silva. When asked who these people were, the army he refused to share his contact information.

Before ruling, Federal Judge Raffaela Cbadia de Sousa should wait for the forensic doctors. Your testimony could give details about which chemical was used in the attacks described by the witnesses.

There is still no deadline for the verdict.

Federal prosecutors accuse the Brazilian state of genocide and they said hundreds, if not thousands, of the tribe died between 1968 and 1977 when the BR-174 was built.

The dead have occurred by military strikes or diseases this happened after the construction of the road through the reserve, they added.

The witnesses stated that they did not know the dates of the alleged attacks. The Waimiri-Atroari they do not measure time in months and yearsbut they talk about events related to a phase of their life.

Prosecutors believe that the mbadacre that Bornaldo witnessed was after 1974, year after which the aggressions intensified.

This attack was one of many incidents that occurred during the construction of part of the road that connects the cities of Manaus and Boa Vista, according to the prosecution.

The tribesmen who testified testified that the aggression came from the Brazilian army, while overseeing the construction of 120 kilometers across the Waimiri-Atroari Reserve.

The official version

Military leaders said the tribe prevented government employees from building the road. However, they never admitted to attacking the tribe.

"Documents from this era show that the military dictatorship considered indigenous people as an obstacle to development and that his presence in the areas of interest could not stop the work, "said journalist Rubens Valente, who attended the hearing and is the author of a book on the relations between the authoritarian regime of Brazil and tribes.

Government lawyers suggested in their questions that the minors or local criminals were behind the attacks. The members of the tribe rejected these claims.

In explaining the resort to violence, the Waimiri-Atroari say they defend only their territory. Valente's book, quoted by prosecutors, states that At least 26 people died during the construction of the road, including construction workers, people who have served as liaisons between the government and Aboriginal groups and religious missionaries.

In comparison with the countries of South America like Chile and Argentina, Brazil has done little to expose the atrocities committed by the militaryparticularly against indigenous peoples.

Waimiri-Atroari's accusations imply a challenge for the Armed Forces of Brazil, which baderts that his regime was only repressing opponents in search of a socialist revolution.

Dawuna Elzo Atroari, a thin voice and low voice, said he witnessed an attack against the tribe during an incident different from that described by Bornaldo.

"Before this road, we lived well and in peace, we were in good health," he said with trembling hands. "After the road, people died and we were threatened. I had a gun in my ear. "

The Waimiri-Atroari close the road with a huge chain every day at 6 o'clock in the afternoon to protect the wildlife and the tribe themselves. Reopen only at 6 o'clock in the morning.

The testimony of the elders (who were young during the construction of the road) is key to the lawsuit filed by the tribe against the Brazilian state: she claims $ 13 million in damages, an official apology at a ceremony on the land of Waimiri-Atroari, the construction of the city, a museum commemorating the atrocities and a mention of the human rights violations exercised against it in the public school books.

In 2014, a truth commission declared that more than 8,000 members of indigenous tribes could have been killed by authoritarian regimes between 1946 and 1988, the vast majority of the dictatorship of 1964-1985.

Prosecutors estimates that the number of victims of Waimiri-Atroari varies between 600 and 3,000.

New works on the horizon

As the hearing unfolded and members of the tribe repeatedly accused the Brazilian army of this mbadacre, mysterious information came up: the federal government announced plans to build a line of energy that will cross the Waimiri-Atroari reserve, which politicians and military leaders have been looking for since the construction of the BR-174.

President Bolsonaro, who he often praises the dictatorship and promises to open the Amazon to further development, said that the line of energy that will connect the network of the state of Roraima to the rest of Brazil is a national security issue.

The decision does not oblige to consult the Waimiri-Atroarias required by law. Brazil is now buying energy from Venezuela, a country in crisis, to supply the north.

If the $ 600 million energy project proceeds in June (as promised by Bolsonaro), the installation of dozens of electric towers will further deforest the Waimiri-Atroari lands. A legal battle is to be expected.

No matter what happens, Parwe, one of the leaders of the tribe, is happy that future generations can learn more about the Waimiri-Atroari.

"Everyone should know what happened here, so that it does not happen againhe said in a firm voice, standing next to the judge and looking at the military personnel who was present.

By Mauricio Savarese. Associated Press Agency