Brazil police evicts Rio indigenous museum protesters

BBC News, 03/22/2013

A group of indigenous Brazilians has been evicted from the building they had been occupying in Rio de Janeiro for more than six years.

Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to dislodge the indigenous people from the former museum.

The building is next to the famous Maracana football stadium.

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Rio +20: Declaration of Kari-Oca II adopted by five hundred Indigenous representatives in sacred ceremony

Jeff Conant – Climate Connections, 06/20/2012

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 19, 2012 – Over five hundred Indigenous Peoples from Brazil and throughout the world gathered at Kari-Oca II, an encampment seated at the foot of a mountain near Rio Centro, to sign a declaration demanding respect for Indigenous Peoples’ role in maintaining a stable world environment, and condemning the dominant economic approach toward ecology, development, human rights and the rights of Mother Earth.

“We see the goals of UNCSD Rio+20, the “Green Economy”, and its premise that the world can only ‘save’ nature by commodifying its life-giving and life-sustaining capacities as a continuation of the colonialism that Indigenous Peoples and our Mother Earth have faced and resisted for 520 years”, the declaration states.

Hundreds of Indigenous representatives plan to march from Kari-Oca on Wednesday, June 20, to deliver the declaration to world leaders at the opening of the Rio+20 Summit.

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Brazilian judge suspends dam license, upholds indigenous rights

ENS, 04/05/2012

Dam construction on the Teles Pires River in Mato Grosso, January 2012.

A federal judge has suspended the construction license of the Teles Pires hydroelectric dam in the Brazilian Amazon, saying the permitting process violated the rights of indigenous people protected under the Brazilian Constitution.

In her ruling, Judge Celia Regina Ody Bernardes, a federal judge in the state of Mato Grosso, sided with federal public prosecutors and public prosecutors from Mato Grosso and the state of Pará who argued the dam would cause “imminent and irreversible damage to the quality of life and cultural heritage of indigenous peoples of the region.”

The dam would flooding a series of rapids on the Teles Pires River known as Sete Quedas, or Seven Waterfalls, the spawning grounds of fish of great importance to the indigenous residents.

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Uncertainty for Rio stadium’s indigenous squatters

AP/Daily Bulletin, 03/22/2012

In this Saturday Jan. 21, 2012 photo, Tcharry, a Guajajara Indian, climbs the stairs of the old Indian Museum located near Maracana soccer stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Dozens of indigenous people who have built homes on the site of Rio's old Indian Museum, abandoned since 1977, will have to move as part of the neighborhood's makeover for the 2014 World Cup. Carlos Tukano, the group's leader, says the space provides a place to stay for indigenous people visiting Rio, whether looking for medical care, pursuing their education or hawking crafts to tourists on the beach. ((AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano))

As Rio prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, all eyes are turning to the gray and blue walls of the storied Maracana stadium.

Yet even with all the attention, few people notice about 30 indigenous people who have been squatting in the shadow of the cathedral of Brazilian soccer and will have to move as part of the neighborhood’s $63.2 million makeover.

Maracana, built for the 1950 World Cup, will be the keystone of the city’s upcoming sporting events, hosting the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and the final match of World Cup.

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