Support Letter and Solidarity to CIMI

Published in Portugueese on Friday, 14/06/2013

The Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) manifest SOLIDARITY to the indigenous struggle and cause, to the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) and its leaderships, particularly at this moment, in which is accused of inflating the just and legitimate struggle of indigenous peoples for demarcation of their land and in defence of their territories.

We know that the attacks comes from the deputies involved in the rural elite caucus of the federal government’s conservative sector and of large agribusiness farmers with the only objective to defame the sobriety of CIMI and to discourage the indigenous struggle.

The groups which attack CIMI and the struggle and resistance of indigenous people are the same groups which are pressing and appropriating our territories through electric and mining companies and through large corporations linked to agribusiness. These groups are trying to erase the indigenous rights out of the Constitution of 1988; rights wich were won through many struggles of popular organizations such as CIMI and many others.

This is why we denounce the land appropriation and of natural goods based on the capital’s demand. We reinforce our solidarity to the Indigenous Missionary Council; and we strongly reject the criminalization and murder of the people who are in the struggle, as occurred recently in Mato Grosso do Sul.

We reaffirm that the Brazilian state has an historical debt with the indigenous populations and at this moment of conflicts due to the capital’s interests, the indigenous should not be victims again.

National Coordination

Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB)

São Paulo, June 14 of 2013.