Day 251 - 17 May 96 - Page 08

     
     1        A.  Yes, I know this region particularly well because in my
     2        book we studied some case studies, conflicts between
     3        peasant families and cattle ranchers, and a couple of them
     4        were along this road as it goes up to San Felix(?) Do
     5        Araguaia, all along the Araguaia River.  So I travelled
     6        along this road, I cannot remember how many times, but
     7        between 1975 and 1983/4, I must have travelled along it 10
     8        times or more and I saw this region changing during these
     9        years.
    10
    11        When I first went, it was very difficult to get through.
    12        It was a rough track; it was still at the end, it was a
    13        dirt road, but in the early years I travelled by this
    14        broken-down bus and it was a long and quite arduous journey
    15        through, again what I call tropical forest, which is humid
    16        tropical forest.  I remember it very, very well indeed and
    17        with the first visits to Nova Xavantina, either did exist
    18        or was so small that there was no indication of its
    19        presence.
    20
         Across the years I saw cattle ranches being set up in this
    22        region and forest being cut down to pave the way for
    23        pasture.
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause a moment, please.
    26        A.  Can I continue?  The term "Nova Xavantina" actually
    27        comes from the Xavante Indians.  The Xavante Indians lived
    28        in the region and were moved out to pave the way for the
    29        cattle ranchers; some were actually taken out by plane.
    30        There was a very big and controversial ranch called the
    31        Bradesco ranch set up in this region.
    32
    33   MR. MORRIS:  For the record, I think the name of the ranch was
    34        "inaudible" on the screen; can you just say that again?
    35        A.  There was one of the largest ranches set up to the west
    36        of this road called "Suia Missu" which is another
    37        indigenous term which comes from the Suia Indians -- that
    38        is spelt S-U-I-A, acute accent -- Suia Missu -- M-I-S-S-U;
    39        two words.
    40
    Q.   That is just one of many ranches set up in that area?
    42        A.  It was a very, very large one.  I have got the
    43        dimensions in my book.  I cannot remember them at the
    44        moment.  It was a very wild, rough area.  I actually saw on
    45        a crossroads somebody being killed on one of these trips,
    46        it was a real far west; a lot of conflict going on between
    47        cattle companies and peasant farmers.
    48
    49        I went out on one of those occasions and visited the local
    50        bishop there, Pedro Casaldaliga, who was the first person 
    51        to alert the world about the scale of the violence and the 
    52        conflict going on in the region.  He was the Bishop of San 
    53        Felix, further up to the north, but he had a huge diocese
    54        so he was covering this area too, and I travelled around
    55        with him on a bus once.  It was one of the most violent
    56        regions I knew.
    57
    58   Q.   These trips you made to Sinop and to Nova Xavantina and
    59        those areas, were they research trips in general?
    60        A.  I was combining research for my book, and also I was