"Lula frustrated our expectations"

As a teacher, he defended and disseminated bilingual education, beginning in his own Sateré-Mawé community. He later created an educational movement, became president of the Indigenous Education Council of the northwestern state of Amazonas and finally the general coordinator of COIAB, which brings together 75 organisations representing 165 indigenous groups -- more than 200,000 people, or around 60 percent of Brazil's indigenous population. The Sateré-Mawé stand out for their ''intercultural experience'' in speaking Portuguese in addition to their own language, and also in the sustainable cultivation of guaraná (Paullinia cupana), an Amazon fruit that is used in making a soft drink consumed around the world. Barbosa Cabral spoke with Tierramérica about the challenges that Brazil's indigenous peoples face, especially access to land, at a time when President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is dealing with ever-greater demands from peasant farmers to speed up agrarian reform.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES-BRAZIL:
"Lula frustrated our expectations"
by Mario Osava
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