This week Brazilian Minister of Justice Marcio Thomaz Bastos is scheduled to visit the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Territory in Roraima. Bastos will use the visit to inform an imminent decision from the president’s office on whether to ratify this territory, thereby granting broad rights to the Indians who live there. Without such recognition the Indians have little legal defense against encroaching farmers or miners. The area has a history of violent conflict between the indigenous inhabitants and outside industry interests over land and resource rights.
