São Félix do Xingu / Pará – About 700 hectares of forests were invaded and deforested by farmers in the Indigenous land (TI) Kaypó, close to São Félix do Xingu town, in the end north of the reservation, among the villages Kikretum and Kokraimoro. The first accusations of the National Foundation of the Indian (Funai) to the Federal Police and IBAMA were three months ago, but the invasions, besides not combated, were intensified. With the lack of attitude from the authorities, the Indians threaten to use the force to guarantee the integrity in their territory.
Since last week, a Funai commission has been to the place to carry out the damage provoked by the farmers and to calm the Indians that threaten to expel the invaders. Satellite images analyzed by the technicians of the No-government Organization International Conservation prove the existence of deforested areas in the TI Kayapó.
Threatens of conflict
Funai fears that the delay of the action from the authorities in place due to a conflict between the Indians and the farmers. On April 2004, a conflict in the reservation of the Indians Cinta-larga, in Rondônia, resulted in the 29 prospectors’ death that had invaded their lands. The slaughter could have been avoided if the government had assisted to the accusations that had already been done for at least two years. “We are trying to articulate, since September, with Ibama and the Federal Police, an operation to remove the invaders of the area of Kayapó, but we didn’t obtain any support “, claims Eimar Araújo, responsible for the regional Funai of Marabá.
Araújo affirmed that the indigenist are still working to avoid that the Indians use the violence, but he fears that with the increase of the invasions the efforts are in vain. In the last weeks, some indigenous leadership could negotiate the peaceful exit of some invaders of the area, but they denounce that some days later, they all were back in the camps. “If the Brazilian State retard much more, the Indians will act in their way. This means that there will be a violence scenery and conflict with losses of human lives “, alert Araújo.