Yanomamis in piaçaba: groups say they act for indigenous people – 05/14/2023 – Market

Faced with the lack of representativeness of the Yanomamis in the region of the middle Rio Negro and the dismantling of Funai (National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples) in the last five years, organizations began to move to act on behalf of the indigenous people and access the piaçaba extracted inside and outside the demarcated territory on the Amazon side.

These groups emerged, strengthened or began to act from 2021 onwards, in view of the emptying of Funai’s presence in Barcelos (AM), the closest city to the communities that revolve around piaçabais, on the tributaries of the Negro River. Barcelos is also the destination for hundreds of Yanomami who, every month, seek the city to access benefits such as Bolsa Família.

A cooperative led by a boss, and which claims to represent piassava extraction workers, including the Yanomami, sent boats with supplies to the Padauiri and Aracá rivers, tributaries of the Negro river, to the vicinity of Yanomami land, with the aim of intermediating in the purchase from piaçaba.

The information about sending the vessels comes from the president of Coopiaçamarin (Cooperativa de Piaçabeiros do Alto e Médio Rio Negro), Seder Katz Nara, a boss who acted directly in the supply system – bosses supply supplies and fuel to indigenous and non-indigenous people who they extract the piaçaba, and the payment is made in fibers, generating indebtedness.

Katz told Sheet which no longer negotiates directly with the Yanomami. According to him, this intermediation is now done by the cooperative.

In the report, at the cooperative’s headquarters in Barcelos, the organization’s president said he had communicated to Funai about sending canteens, with supplies and fuel, to the region of the Padauiri and Aracá rivers.

The indigenous technician José Ribamar Caldas Filho, who acts as substitute coordinator of the Funai unit in Barcelos, said that there was no communication to the agency about the cooperative’s performance, nor authorization for it.

Both Coopiaçamarin and Conafer (National Confederation of Family Farmers and Rural Family Entrepreneurs) were advised of the need for Funai to authorize this intermediation of organizations in the piassava extraction business, according to the technician from the federal government agency.

Funai has already acted in the negotiation of piaçaba extracted by the Yanomami and other indigenous people, including the supply of groceries, a way of avoiding the action of middlemen. In documents, there is reference to actions of the type until 2011.

Coopiaçamarin and Conafer signed a partnership to operate in the piaçaba business, as announced on the confederation’s website in December 2022.

Conafer became more present in Barcelos, working directly with the Yanomami. The entity even financed the creation of the Associação Xoromawe Indígena, which claims to represent Yanomamis from ten villages on the Padauiri, Aracá and Preto rivers. Xoromawe has both indigenous and non-indigenous people in charge.

The president is Geraldo Yanomami, 51. “The association is financed by Conafer, and has a partnership with ‘Seda'”, stated Geraldo. ‘Seda’ is how Coopiaçamarin’s Seder Katz is known in the region.

“In the villages we represent, there is exploitation of piassava. ‘Seda’ is taking canteens into the villages, with goods. It has already placed one in Aracá, one in Padauiri and is going to place one in the Preto river next month”, said the president of the Xoromawe Association. “His cooperative is buying the piaçaba and supplying the food. He pays R$ 3.50 per kilo of clean piaçaba.”

Geraldo also stated that the association will take over the process of selling piaçaba and transferring the resources to the tuxauas (chiefs) of the villages. “Often relatives are robbed [por patrões da piaçaba]. Relatives are full of bills and take nothing. and the flows [em comunidades vizinhas] is increasing because the needs in the villages have increased.”

The extracted fiber has different destinations. It goes to manufacture brooms in Manaus, in cities in the interior of Amazonas, Pará, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and even in Portugal, according to the bosses responsible for buying and selling piaçaba.

According to Katz, the Yanomami represent 30% of the members of the cooperative – therefore around 80 indigenous people. He admits the existence of indebtedness of indigenous people in the supply system for fiber extraction.

The president of Coopiaçamarin said that the model he wants to implement will involve handing over piaçaba production to the cooperative; the provision of groceries by the organization; the calculation of balances for this exchange, supervised by the Xoromawe Association; and payment of the differences in the association’s account.

“This is cultural, the Yanomami live off fishing and extractivism,” stated Katz.

The cooperative has not yet given a destination to 28 broom machines received from the government of Amazonas, which paid for 80% of the value of the machinery. Katz has already produced brooms with ten pieces of equipment. According to him, it was just a “test”.

Conafer coordinator in Barcelos and secretary of the Xoromawe Association, Rui Macedo de Moraes said that Funai “participates in and guarantees” the sending of vessels with supplies to the tributaries of the Negro River. “We at Xoromawe still haven’t taken 1 kg of piaçaba from the Yanomami.”

According to Moraes, Conafer supports different segments, including quilombolas and indigenous peoples. “There is support for more than 200 indigenous peoples.”

In the Mariuá neighborhood, on the outskirts of Barcelos, dozens of Yanomami from the Demini river spread out their hammocks in a property used as a support point in the city, on the bank of the Negro river.

Indigenous people go to the municipality to withdraw benefits and to buy products such as flour, hooks, flashlights and gasoline. It’s five days down the rivers. Then seven days upstream.

In Demini, piaçaba is not exploited, according to the Yanomami with whom the report spoke in Barcelos. They extract vine, less and less used in furniture.

According to Ezequiel Yanomami, 55, who was getting organized to make his way back, Conafer representatives have already been to villages in Padauiri, and will do the same in Demini.

Another constant presence in the indigenous land is that of evangelical missionaries from the New Tribes Mission. In the city, missionaries occupy a house next to the property used by the Yanomami. The missionary who was in the house did not want to speak with the reporter.

The president of Asiba (Indigenous Association of Barcelos), Rosilene Menez, says that the organization fights for public policies for piaçabeiros indigenous people. “Most relatives don’t even have documentation.”

The report was supported by the Amazon Rainforest Journalism Fund, in partnership with the Pulitzer Center