Nelson Motta
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - On Friday (15), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a decree homologating the Raposa Serra do Sol Indian reservation, located in the state of Roraima. According to the Minister of Justice, Márcio Thomaz Bastos, Lula made a point of signing it prior to tomorrow's (19) commemoration of Indian Day. "This is a vital moment in the history of indigenous causes, which is why the President made a point of signing the homologation to manifest his determination and desire, expressed in his Administration's program, to repay this debt that the nation owes the indigenous peoples," Bastos affirmed.

The Minister of Justice recalled that the homologation was a "strong step" towards the construction of "property stability" in the state.

Bastos enumerated several of the measures adopted by the government to this end: setting aside 150 thousand hectares of federal government land for the implantation of development poles for agriculture and ranching; regularizing 10 thousand family properties, making them eligible for government loans; identifying and listing all the families that will be transferred from the Raposa Serra do Sol and São Marcos territories and moving them to Incra (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) settlement projects, when they meet the prerequisites of the National Agrarian Reform Program; and completing the survey, evaluation, and compensation of non-Indian occupants of the reservation.

The decree guarantees an area of 1,743,089 hectares for the Indians. Nearly 15 thousand Indians, who belong to the Macuxi, Taurepang, Wapixana, Ingarikó, and Patamona ethnic groups, currently live in the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Reserve.

The chief sources of livelihood for communities in the Raposa are agriculture, ranching, and fishing.

The coordinator of the Roraima Indigenous Council, Marinaldo Trajano, a Tuxaua Indian, says that priority will now be given to projects for the recovery of the soil and rivers devastated by prospectors and loggers. "The homologation will strengthen and reinvigorate the communities in their development efforts," Trajano declared.

Translation: David Silberstein