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The Colombian War Spills Over Frontiers

The Maku Indians live in Brazil and are considered a precolombian, ethnic culture. They comprise around three thousand people, divided into different groups -the Hupdu, the Yuhupdu, the Duw and the Nadub. Generally speaking, their homelands are located close to the Colombian border, covering a total of 10.6 million hectares. The groups live separated from one another in spaces of land between the rivers Alto Rio Negro, Médio Rio Negro I, Rio Téa and Rio Apapóris. The Brazilian federal government since 1988 has demarcated all these territories, and these areas are where they undertake their subsistence agriculture, their hunting and their fishing.

According to information released a week ago by several local newspapers -- among them A Critica -- and from information agencies such as Reuters, the Maku group living in the Tabatinga municipality, between the Apapóris and Tiquie Rivers, have been forced to flee their homelands. This was due to armed members of the FARC Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia breaking into their houses and threatening to kill them if they alerted the Brazilian army. The “visit” pushed the Maku Indians into packing their belongings and sailing down the river from the town of Sao Jose to Vila Bittencourt. There, the Maku did indeed inform Brazilian troops of their situation and, afterwards, the representatives of FUNAI (National Indian Foundation).

Consequently, since the beginning of March, the Indians -- about some 130 adults and 70 children grouped within 25 families, the only representatives of one Maku etnia - have remained camped in the territory above, for the first week wholly without food. Now, they are temporarily living in sheds without walls, and are being helped with whatever aid FUNAI and the military forces can gather for them. The Maku Indians have left behind their banana and mandioc plantations, both part of their staple diet.

The presence of FARC rebels appears to be an isolated incident. However, according to Reuters, it is believed to be “the first sign of a spillover of Colombia’s recent offensive against the revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia”. The armed militias of FARC could have infiltrated into other neighboring countries like Brazil, and camped in indigenous territories such as those of the Maku. Episodes such as those involving the Maku Indians and FARC make the protection and self-determination of indigenous peoples a much more difficult task for indigenous support organizations. Furthermore, in spite of the efforts of Brazilian troops and other organizations, the indigenous peoples - sometimes living in very remote areas - are not self-protected, nor are they forewarned enough so as to be able to understand, according to a representative of FUNAI, “why armed men speaking a different language infiltrated their camp and threatened to harm them”. As the spokesman at FUNAI in Brasilia Cid Furtado said, “If these Indians weren’t on the border area, we would not know that this incursion had happened”.

Latest news tells of the return of eight families to the Apaporis River shore, watched over by military members of the Brazilian 8º Batalhao de Infanteria da Selva.