Brazilian Army to Defuse Conflicts over Indian lands

{{President Dilma Rousseff’s government said on Tuesday it would send 110 federal troops to the Brazilian farm state of Mato Grosso do Sul to try to prevent more violence between Indians claiming their ancestral territory and ranchers.}}

The government has been struggling to defuse tensions with indigenous tribes over farmland in several states as well as over hydroelectric dams in the Amazon.

Tensions escalated in a disputed property in Mato Grosso do Sul that was invaded last week for a second time by Terena Indians angered by the fatal shooting of one of their tribe’s members. Local media said the man’s cousin was shot and injured on a nearby ranch on Tuesday.

“We must avoid radicalizing a situation that goes back a long way in Brazilian history,” Justice Minister Jose Cardozo told reporters after meeting lawmakers from Mato Grosso do Sul in Brasilia.

“We’re not going to put out the flames by throwing alcohol on the bonfire,” he said.

However, protests have now erupted across the country.

In Rio Grande do Sul state, about 2,000 Kaingang and Guarani Indians were blocking roads to protest the government’s decision to put on hold the granting of ancestral lands to indigenous communities, a concession to Brazil’s powerful farm lobby.

“The government has abandoned us. Dilma isn’t supporting indigenous peoples,” Indian chief Deoclides de Paula said by telephone from a blocked highway.

In Curitiba, the Parana state capital, 30 Kaingang Indians invaded the offices of the ruling Workers’ Party on Monday and only agreed to leave 10 hours later when they were promised a meeting with Rousseff’s chief of staff, Gleisi Hoffmann.

Hoffmann, who will run for governor of Parana next year, said last month that the role of the government’s Indian affairs office, Funai, in land decisions would be restricted.

Cardozo, however, stressed on Tuesday that Funai would not be gutted and would continue to play a central role as the main institution that defends Indian rights, though others will be brought in to improve the process of deciding ancestral lands.

{wirestory}