Povos indígenas & diásporas leituras sobre deslocamentos forçados no Relatório Figueiredo

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the cases of forced displacement of indigenous peoples registered in Relatório Figueiredo (RF), a document stemmed from investigations carried out by Comissão de Inquérito Administrativo in 1967, instituted by determination of Ministério do Interior and chaired by Jader de Figueiredo Correia – who names the document. The purpose of the inquiry commission was to investigate administrative deviations in the performance of SPI – Serviço de Proteção aos Indios – an indigenous body. Among other issues, the RF reports, the forced displacement of indigenous groups from their territories, processes involving the use of physical violence, torture and, at times, the extermination of entire groups. These involuntary movements are understood as diasporic experiences, considering that in addition to the loss of land (totally or partially), the forced displacements have led to the spreading and death of indigenous groups, disaggregation of families and precariousness of living conditions – effects which are still resented now a days by the people who have undergone such experiences. The ensuing reflection was based on the analysis of the seven thousand pages of the RF, distributed in thirty volumes, on the hearing of collected materials from the investigation by Comissão de Inquérito Administrativo, service orders, internal bulletins, meeting minutes, lease agreements, among other types of documents, from where the diasporic categories referring to forced displacement were taken. It is argued that the with drawal of the indigenous people from their lands consisted of State policy with the aim of promoting the liberation of areas for the purpose of economic exploitation, favoring local and regional elites, with the acquiescence of the SPI. The policy of forced displacement – of genocidal nature – hasits roots in the processes of coloniality, which seek to racialize human groups, forging hierarchies between whites and non-whites, in such way that out of a shallow perception of body features, one would automatically be able to identify a specific people or social group as inferior, thus promoting the dehumanization of these individuals. It is concluded, therefore, that despite the genocidal potential of the forced displacement policy– once the territorial issue is at the heart of all violations of the rights of indigenous peoples – these populations, over the years, have remained in struggle and overcoming attempts to obliterate their lives, their communities and their history.