Tension builds in Brazil after cattle ranch dispute
06/06/2013
The government has been scrambling to avert violence since a man was shot dead last week when police evicted 200 Terena people from the disputed cattle ranch of a former congressman. However, protests have now erupted across the country.
"We must avoid radicalising a situation that goes back a long way in Brazilian history," Justice Minister Jose Cardozo told reporters. "We're not going to put out the flames by throwing alcohol on the fire.”
About 2,000 Kaingang and Guarani 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 farm lobby.
"The government has abandoned us. Dilma isn't supporting indigenous peoples," Guarani chief Deoclides de Paula told news agency Reuters.
About 13% of Brazil is set aside for indigenous people but farmers say the government’s indigenous affairs office, Funai, is trying to create reservations on land that has belonged to descendants of European settlers for 150 years.
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