Indians And Settlers Clash Over Development Of Brazilian Amazon

Brazil’s Supreme Court is expected to decide this month whether the government can continue to evict rice farmers from a recently created Indian reservation in the Amazon, a ruling that could affect the pace of development in the world’s largest tropical forest. The government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been attempting to evict the farmers from a 4.2 million acre (1.7 million hectare) Indian reservation in northeast Brazil, home to 18,000 indigenous people. The reservation was created in 2005, but recent efforts to evict rice farmers and other settlers have led to violent clashes. The governor of Roraima, in which the reservation is located, and many generals oppose its creation, saying half the state’s land is already in Indian hands. Brazil has embarked on a $43 billion program to develop the Amazon, and conservationists and Indian rights advocates say that reservations are key to protecting the rain forest.