Declaration of the Parakanã People
We, the Parakanã people of the Apyterewa
Indigenous Territory, are tired of waiting. We are telling the federal
government and Norte Energia that we are tired of waiting for you to resolve
the fact that our lands have been invaded illegally by farmers, land grabbers,
miners, loggers, and colonizers who for many years have destroyed our
traditional territory, preventing us from hunting, planting, or caring for our
children, while threatening our people. For many years the government has said
that it would remove the white invaders and return our territory to us, so we
could live in peace. But the government wanted to build the Belo Monte Dam, and
that they would resolve our land problem before building it- this was a prerequisite
of the environmental license. We believed them, but the government lied. Belo
Monte is almost complete. While our territory continues to be invaded by white
people. We no longer believe the government, because the government has not
fulfilled its own laws, it has not fulfilled the project prerequisites that
itself assigned to Norte Energia for the construction of Belo Monte. The
government does not care about our territory, it does not care about indigenous
people, it does not care about our suffering, it only cares about Belo Monte.
The Juruna people from the Paquiçamba territory, the Arara da Volta Grande, and
the Arara da Cachoeira Seca, are also suffering without their complete
territory, and we are worried for our relatives, but the government does not
care. Our rights are being violated, but no one cares for this. We are tired of
waiting for the good faith of the federal government. So our people, elders,
women, and children, therefore occupy the Belo Monte Dam. We occupy the dam
because it should only continue if our lands were free from invaders and
returned to our people. Because this was a prerequisite to build Belo Monte.
So, if our territory is still not returned to us by the federal government,
Belo Monte must stop. And we will stop Belo Monte until the federal government
resolves this problem of our land. We are not here to ask for handouts from
Norte Energia. Norte Energia has also lied, it also owes us much of what it
promised to our people, but today we are not here to dialogue or negotiate with
Norte Energia. We demand to speak with representatives of the federal
government, with the Secretary General of the President's Office, with the
Chief of Staff, with the Minister of Justice, with the President of INCRA, with
the President of FUNAI, and demand that they fulfill their obligations and
return to us our traditional lands free of invaders. We want you to send the
Federal Police to remove the whites that are destroying our lands. If you
instead send the Federal Police to remove us from occupying the Belo Monte Dam,
we choose to die here at Belo Monte, because without our territory, we will
have lost our lives.
Altamira, 12 September, 2013
