On September 17 and 22, an anonymous group of 100 people attempted to sabotage a festival on the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Reserve in Roraima, Brazil.
The group, armed with guns and machetes, burned the reserve’s school, hospital, and church on September 17. They also attacked a professor who was offering classes inside the school at the time of the fire, but his injuries were not fatal. The group returned on September 22 and burned a bridge, which served as the only transportation to the reserve.
According to Fondo Indigena, the Raposa Serra do Sol reserve is the second largest indigenous reserve in Brazil and is the home of 16,000 indigenous Macuxi, Taurepang, Wapixana, Ingarikó, and Patamona people. The 1,700,000 acre reserve was approved in April by Brazilian president Lula Ignacio de Silva, after 30 years of work by the Indigenous Council of Roraima to gain official recognition of the reserve.
The ratification of the reserve was opposed by many politicians and rice growers in the region because the territory includes numerous rice plantations, on which 7,000 non-indigenous people live. According to Christine Halvorsom of the Rainforest Foundation of New York, the government of Roraima declared a week of official mourning after the reserve was ratified. Current, non-indigenous residents will be forced to abandon the region by April 2006, Terra/EFE reported.
Prensa Latina reported that the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) has accused various local politicians connected to Paulo Cesar Quartiero, the largest rice producer in the region, of coordinating the attacks. Quartiero is also the mayor of the municipality of Pacaraima.
On September 21, 3,500 people gathered at Raposa Serra do Sol to celebrate the creation of the reserve. Terra/EFE quotes the president of the National Indian Foundation, Mercio Pereira Gomes, as saying, "The festivities will not be interrupted. The indigenous people count on the support of the authorities, who will investigate and sanction the people responsible for this."
Halversom agreed, stating that the attacks were "an attempt to intimidate and stop the celebrations, which failed... it was the last gasp of people who know they’ve lost."
The festivities continued until September 30 with the inauguration of a new monument on the reserve. Indigenous people played traditional forro music with lyrics about land rights and the environment, and began planning to reconstruct the school and hospital. Also, the people at the festival began to repair the bridge.
The September attacks were not the first incidents of violent protest over the reserve. In January 2005, hundreds of people blocked the access roads to Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima, for three days, and kidnapped three missionaries. In December 2004, 40 armed men allegedly led by Quartiero razed four indigenous villages in Raposa Serra do Sol. None of the men accused of these actions, including Quartiero and other rice growers, has been sanctioned.
Two indigenous leaders, one a city councilor in Pacaraima, are currently being held for questioning about the most recent attacks. More violence in the future is predicted due to the rice growers’ continued threats of armed resistance.
