Brazil & Southern Cone - 11 May 2004
Massacre may lead to ‘opening’ of Indian lands
The early-April massacre of at least 29 illegal miners in an Indian reservation is being used by the government as justification to speed up lifting the ban on exploiting the resources of these territories. The grim episode in the diamond-rich Roosevelt reservation has revealed a complex web in which the official Indian agency, Funai, has been implicated in diamond smuggling, and Indian headmen in a turf war between big mining outfits and the host of small-scale miners - with both groups acting illegally.
The early-April massacre of at least 29 illegal miners in an Indian reservation is being used by the government as justification to speed up lifting the ban on exploiting the resources of these territories. The grim episode in the diamond-rich Roosevelt reservation has revealed a complex web in which the official Indian agency, Funai, has been implicated in diamond smuggling, and Indian headmen in a turf war between big mining outfits and the host of small-scale miners - with both groups acting illegally.
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