Brasília, May 5, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - The Prospectors Union of the state of Rondônia, in northern Brazil, appeared before the Chamber of Deputies today, in Brasília, to denounce the disappearance of 350 prospectors on the Roosevelt Reserve, where a recent dispute between Cinta-Larga Indians and prospectors resulted in 29 deaths. According to union president Paulo Roberto Borges, the government must act quickly to prevent more deaths.

District Court Judge Leonel Pereira da Rocha told the hearing in the Chamber that 65 deaths on the reserve have been registered since 2001 and there are reports of a clandestine cemetery where 100 corpses are buried. According to the judge, local courts have had difficulties in executing arrest warrants and interrogating Indians who live in the reserve. In his opinion, the National Indian Foundation (Funai) has gotten in the way of investigations. Rocha calls for federal government intervention on the reserve. He claims that the Cinta-Larga Indians on the Roosevelt Indian Reserve are heavily armed. "As long as the Indians continue to be armed, the conflicts will continue," he affirmed.

Deputy Miguel de Souza (PL-RO) filed a formal motion in the Chamber to form a Parliamentary Investigation Commission (CPI) to look into the matter and got the president of the Chamber, João Paulo Cunha (PT-SP) to agree to the creation of a special Commission to analyze all projects dealing with the Indian question in the Chamber.

Translator: David Silberstein