Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 6.10. Joaquim Maradezuro leaves home to go fishing. By William Tsere'õnõi'õ.
The execution of Joaquim Maradezuro, on April 2, 2003.
By Tseredzaró Ruri'õ and Were'é Marciano (July 3-4, 2003).
(Note: This narrative was produced in both Xavante and Portuguese, then translated into English.
Portuguese words are
italicized;
Xavante words are
underlined
.)
The old man left home to go fishing, his wife stayed home. He walked and walked,
following the barbed wired fence [dividing the territory from the
Fazenda Rica
] looking
for a good spot to fish. Joaquim could see the peons working the farmland, the land that
the farmers stole from the Xavante. The white men,
waradzu
, stole our land, we want
our land back! He saw them work the land with a big tractor, a really big one digging
into the land, making holes into the land, digging up all the roots, destroying the land!
Joaquim was thinking about fish, big fish to take back home. He spent the day
fishing, but he did not return home. How could he walk back if he was dead? He
could only walk in the dead man's world, but that is another world of our brothers,
not this world of live people. If he were alive, he would have gotten back home
around 3 pm, that's what he always did. Only his dog went back home, alone.
It was dark, the man was not there (…) So the people of the Volta Grande village
13
started looking for him. They walked around and called his name. Nothing (
nada
).
They wanted to sleep. His wife had a dream, a dream that he was covered in blood,
red, red like
urucu
(
bö
, red ocre body paint), but it was not
urucu
, it was blood
(
wapru
). His blood came out of his body, all out, and covered the earth, the blood
covered everything. It was all red (
ipré
), all covered in blood.
