Council defending indigenous causes wins human rights prize in Brazil

Mencius Melo – From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) was awarded the “Alceu Amoroso Lima” human rights prize in Brazil, 2022. The ceremony was broadcasted through the YouTube channel of the Candido Mendes University (Ucam) on the last 15th. The award aims to highlight the initiatives of people, institutions or organisations that fight for human rights, justice and peace in Brazil. The journalist Dom Phillips and the indigenous activist Bruno Pereira, murdered in the Javari Valley, were highlighted at the event.

According to the rector of Ucam, Andreya Mendes Navarro, the trajectory of the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) could not remain on the sidelines of the processes of building the history and memory of Brazilian society. “I could not fail to pay tribute to Cimi, which is brilliantly present in the history of our country and will continue carrying our struggle forward”, said Andreya.

The member of the Alceu Amoroso Lima Working Group (WG), Father Oscar Beozzo, responsible for the choice, recalled the struggle faced by the native peoples and Cimi over the past years in Brazil. “Cimi has lived, in a very special way, these past four years, a difficult battle, because the lives of indigenous peoples and territories have been systematically violated and destroyed by those who should protect them”, he denounced.

Tribute

During the event, journalist Dom Phillips and indigenist Bruno Pereira, killed in the Javari Valley, west of the Legal Amazon, were honoured. In his speech, Oscar Beozzo declared: “We cannot fail to recognize and bring to the whole society what was this delivery of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips. I also pay tribute to both Beatriz, wife of Bruno, and Alessandra, wife of Don Phillips, who is here with us, saying that your pain is also ours. Your struggle is also ours”, stated the cleric.

Resistance

The indigenous peoples of the Amazon region are the most vulnerable, as they are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. For Paulo Suess, Cimi’s theological advisor, history speaks for itself. “Cimi was born as an organism annexed to the CNBB, the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, in 1972”, he recalled.

Father Oscar recalled the leaden times, when the political context was completely unfavorable to the emergence of entities like Cimi. “It was the eighth year of the military dictatorship, when General Emílio Garrastazu Médici was president of Brazil. It was the secretary-general of the CNBB, at the time, who convened a small group of 25 persons to discuss the bill that was moving through the Federal Chamber and provided for the Statute of the Indian”, recalled Oscar Beozzo.

Cimi

Cimi is an organization linked to the CNBB (National Conference of Brazilian Bishops) which, in its missionary activity, has given new meaning to the work of the Catholic Church with the indigenous peoples.

Created in 1972, at the height of the military dictatorship, when the Brazilian State was adopting large infrastructure projects as its central theme and openly assuming the integration of the indigenous peoples into the majority society as its only perspective, Cimi sought to encourage articulation between villages and peoples, promoting large indigenous assemblies, where the first outlines of the struggle for the guarantee of the right to cultural diversity were drawn.

In its practice with indigenous peoples, Cimi assumes as its general objective: to witness and announce, prophetically, the Good News of the Kingdom, at the service of the indigenous peoples’ life projects, denouncing the structures of domination, violence and injustice, practicing intercultural, inter-religious and ecumenical dialogue, supporting the alliances of these peoples among themselves, and with the popular sectors, for the construction of a world for all, egalitarian, democratic, pluricultural, and in harmony with nature, on the way to the definitive Kingdom.

And, for this new society, forged in its own struggle, Cimi believes that indigenous peoples are sources of inspiration for the revision of the meanings, the history, the orientations and the social, political and economic practices built until today.