Subject: URGENT: Rubber Tappers under attac
From: Amanakaa Amazon Network <[email-masked]>
Date: 24 Jun 94 08:46 PDT
Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture

URGENT ACTION ALERT FROM XAPURI

June 21, 1994

Dear Friends,

The following is an urgent appeal from Xapuri, Western Amazon.  The
rubber tappers' movement is under attack and needs your immediate
response and support.  Please join us in this action!

SUMMARY:  Xapuri is at the heart of the struggles and victories of
the rubber tappers movement headed by Chico Mendes. An increasingly
virulent campaign, including imprisonment and torture, and media
dis-information against the tappers, is threatening to derail the
victories won by the movement. The Union of Rural Workers of Xapuri
and the National Council of Rubber Tappers have called for
international pressure to be put on those responsible for these
attacks. Please send a fax or letter to the address listed below.

BACKGROUND:    On June 6, the rubber tappers' community of Nova
Esperanca organized an Empate [non-violent resistance to prevent
the cutting of trees] to stop the deforestation of an area of 450
hectares by a rancher named Marcos Carvalho.  Rubber tapper
families have been living and working in the area for over 30
years, however the rancher wants to deforest it, cutting over 1,000
rubber trees and ruining the livelihood of the tappers.

According to the Union of Rural Workers of Xapuri, Carvalho is
being helped by the military police, who have been threatening the
rubber tappers. On June 9, police arrested Edson Silva, an adviser
to the rubber tappers in Xapuri. On May 10, Silva was transferred
to the state capital of Rio Branco, where doctors attested that he
was badly beaten up and tortured by the police in Xapuri.

The Union of Rural Workers and the National Council of Rubber
Tappers hold the local judiciary system and A Gazeta, a Xapuri
newspaper, responsible for the climate of tension. According to the
Union, Judge Maria Tapajos Santana ordered the arrest warrant that
resulted in Silva's imprisonment, and has refused appeals of habeus
corpus.  A Gazeta has twisted the empate completely out of
proportion and is trying to discredit the leaders of the movement.

Dr. Erick Cavalcante, a district attorney of Xapuri, has picked out
four rubber tapper and union leaders, accusing them of pushing the
tappers into armed struggle.  They include: Gumercindo Rodrigues,
from the Xapuri Cooperative; Francisco Assis Monteiro, president of
the Union of Rural Workers of Xapuri; Julio Barbosa, president of
the Amazon Working Group-GTA; and Raimundo de Barros, a cousin of
Chico Mendes' and city councilman from the Worker's Party.

The Union of Rural Workers informs that it is negotiating a
peaceful solution to the land dispute in the area with IBAMA, the
national agency for the environment.  It is asking for calm in face
of these attacks by the military police and the local judiciary.

ACTION:   Please send a fax to Judge Maria Tapajos Santana and to
Dr. Erick Cavalcante, expressing concern about the accusations made
against the rubber tappers movement and the tense situation in
Xapuri. Join us to protest this situation and to support the rubber
tapper's movement through the crisis. We must let the local
judiciary know that the world is still watching Xapuri, and that
the struggles won by the rubber tappers there are an example for
the rest of the Amazon.

Please send a fax or letter to:

Dra. Maria Tapajos Santana Areal
Dr. Erick Cavalcante Linhares Lima

Address:  Rua Floriano Peixoto S/N
          69.930-000 Xapuri - Acre

Fax:      A/C Banco da Amazonia
          011 55 68 542 2341

Please send a copy of your faxes to Amanaka'a at (212) 674 9139.

SOURCES:  Sindicato dos Trabalhadores Rurais, Xapuri
          Conselho Nacional dos Seringueiros, Rio Branco
          Imagens da Terra, Rio de Janeiro