Third time lucky in what has come to be considered as an endless case. The Brazilian Supreme Court, after postponing it twice, has finally given victory to the indigenous people from Raposa Serra do Sol, a reserve of Amazonian villages located north of the Roraima state, bordering Venezuela and Guyana. Eleven Supreme Court judges have voted for the continuity of Raposa Serra do Sol as an integral self-ruled territory, and only one voted against it. The decision implies that the ancestral inhabitants are the legitimate owners of the land and, as a consequence, big rice growers and farmers will have to leave the vast areas they currently occupy.

Both the State governor and the settlers wanted the Supreme to allow non-indigenous people to exploit some portions of land or the so-called "small production islands". On the contrary, autochthonous inhabitants opposed the administrative disintegration of the territory, since that would mean their exclusion from the production process would be maintained. The conflict mounted as rice producers attacked indigenous people trying to retrieve their land after the Brazilian government granted the area status of "indigenous reserve".

Conditional victory
The Court, though, has set various conditions that will have to be fulfilled in order to get the decision through. Conditions are also intended to set a precedent for other disputes on indigenous land. The court has established, for instance, that free access to the territory for the federal police and the army must be granted -the military feared the establishment of an autonomous territory in a borderline area. Another important condition restricts the area of the territory to the current region, thus avoiding a potential expansion which opponents to the court decision have always been afraid of. It has been also specified that usufruct enjoyed by indigenous people rules out the possibility of controlling water and energy resources and the extraction of minerals. The Court has banned buying and selling land and taxing non-indigenous people for entering the area.

Between 18,000 and 20,000 Amazonian indigenous tribes live in Raposa do Sol. They mainly consist of 5 ethic groups: the Macushi, Wapichana, Ingarico, Taurepang and Patamona. The government of Lula da Silva created the Raposa Serra do Sol reserve in 2005, which already granted the exclusive use of land for autochthonous inhabitants. However, it was not until yesterday, March 19, that the Supreme Court gave definitive green light to the settlement in favour of the indigenous people. Gilmar Mendes, president of the Court, criticized the inaction of the Brazilian government after the 2005 declaration, for the "public administration has neglected its responsibilities" over the indigenous population, which had been "abandoned to their fate".

Picture: Indigenous people from Raposa celebrate the decision next to the Supreme Court (José Cruz/ABr).

Further information:

• O Globo: Supremo decide por demarcação contínua de Raposa Serra do Sol
• Agência Brasil: Supremo estabelece 19 condições para manter demarcação contínua da Raposa
• Reuters: Brazil court backs Indian land in watershed ruling
• Indigenous Council of Roraima website
  
• Nationalia:The Supreme Court of Brazil votes in favour of self-rule for the indigenous territory of Raposa