Roraima, January 12, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The order of the day in Boa Vista, state capital of Roraima, is to resist. Farmers and Indians promise not to give up the fight for land in the Raposa Serra do Sol Indian reservation. "We cannot surrender. We are at war," said Agenor Fátio, a farmer who has rice plantations in the territory.

Since last Tuesday (6), demonstrators, including squatters, farmers, and Indians, have protested the confirmation of the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation as a continuous tract. They want the area to be demarcated in the form of islands, leaving cities and productive farms outside the demarcation. According to another farmer, Paulo César Quartiero, this would represent 10% of an area embracing 1.7 million hectares.

The situation in the state is delicate. The reservation was demarcated in 1998 and since then has been waiting for official confirmation. 15 thousand Indians and nearly 700 whites inhabit the region. The Minister of Justice, Márcio Thomaz Bastos, was in the state last year, visiting tribes and conversing with leaders. At the end of December, he announced that the territory would be confirmed as a continuous tract . This decision displeased many people, chiefly large producers and the state government itself, which favors confirmation in the form of islands.

The greatest fear of the substitute administrator of the Funai (National Indian Foundation), Manuel Tavares, is that Indians who are in favor of the homologation will begin to protest. For the time being, they remain confident in the federal government.

"At the moment we are calm and ask the federal government not to retreat. We shall not yield, and we have the support of various organizations," said the coordinator of the Indigenous Council of Roraima, Jacir José de Souza Macuxi. Despite this, he affirmed that he will not give up the fight. "As long as there is an Indian left alive, there will be trouble," he emphasized.

The large farmers believe that the economy of the state will be disrupted, if the reservation is confirmed as planned. "We have two municipalities within the territory, we have large productive areas, we have growers of watermelons, growers of bananas, small producers, large producers. It is inadmissible that the entire area must be given to the Indian community, since they themselves don't want it," said Agenor Fátio. (DAS)