On July 29th the indigenous Panara of Brazil received a settlement of US$420,000 from the Brazilian Government as compensation for damages suffered when they were forced to relocate from their ancestral lands in the 1970’s; a move which brought the Panara to the brink of extinction. Represented by lawyers from the Social Environment Institute the Panara filed the lawsuit in 1994 for moral damage inflicted on their community by the Brazilian Government. After a recent community deliberation this summer it has been voted that most of the money will be invested, the interest from which will be used from the communities daily needs.
