Brazil Indians win settlement after road reduces tribe

A Panara warrior

September 15, 2000
Web posted at: 1:11 PM EDT (1711 GMT)

BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) -- A Brazilian federal court ordered the government on Thursday to compensate a remote Indian community after it ruled that a road built through tribal territory had caused the death of most of its members.

The construction of the road, which cuts through a vast tract of land in the lower Amazon, brought the isolated Panara tribe into contact with various illnesses and diseases carried by white men -- ended up decimating the community.

"The decision is historic because it allows those populations who feel violated by the state to claim their rights," said Carlos Federico Mares, a lawyer representing the Panara during the court case.

Brazil's Regional Federal Tribunal ordered the national government to compensate the tribe for moral and material damage by paying 4,000 minimum wages, equivalent to $335,500.

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Environmental issues

Construction of the road, which links the city of Cuiaba in central Brazil to the bustling Amazon port of Santarem, began in 1973. Before that, environmentalists say, the Panara tribe had no contact with the outside world.

But with the arrival of the construction team, many members of the tribe contracted illnesses against which they had no protection and also came up against the phenomena of alcoholism and prostitution for the first time.

In 1975, the government's National Indian Foundation (Funai), which oversees policy on Brazil's indigenous peoples, arranged for the Panara to be moved far from their traditional lands as by then just 75 of the 300-strong community remained.

In 1996, the Justice Ministry recognized the Panara's right to return to ancestral lands and the tribe moved back again, where it now numbers around 200.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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