Rio de Janeiro – The nearly 130 Indians from several groups that occupied the construction site last week of a hydro-electric project in Brazil’s southern Amazon basin abandoned the complex after starting talks that they hope will lead to a halt to work on the project.
The Indians, including Kamaiura and Xavante warriors, ended the protest Sunday after three of their leaders traveled to Brasilia on a government plane to negotiate an end to the power project, a Mato Grosso state prosecutor’s office spokesman told EFE.
“The chiefs traveled to Brasilia with prosecutor Ana Maria Carvalho and will have a meeting this week with the interim president of the National Indian Foundation, Roberto Lustosa,” the spokesman said.
The Indians destroyed part of the power complex, which is being built in the Amazonian state of Mato Grosso, and threatened to dynamite the site.
They also took about 220 construction workers hostage but released them on Saturday.
The assailants, from several ethnicities, are from communities inside Xingu National Park, one of the largest Indian reserves in the country. The rivers that flow through the reserve have their sources in the area where the hydro-electric project is under construction.
They have been protesting the ongoing construction for months.
The owners of the Paranatinga II Small Hydro-electric Project have progressed considerably in construction of a dam on the Culuene River, one of the main tributaries feeding into the Xingu, which is the principal waterway traversing the park.
The reserve, home to some 5,000 Indians belonging to 15 tribes, spans 2.64 million hectares (10,200 square miles).
The militant Indians demand the dismantling of the dam, saying it not only is built on sacred ground but has degraded the local environment and significantly reduced the flow of water through their lands, cutting their catch of fish.
The Indian delegation that traveled to Brasilia includes chief Aritana Yawalapiti, one of the most powerful leaders in the reserve, and young warriors Marcelo Kamaiura and Agore Ikpeng, who led the occupation of the construction site.
“They realized that the best route is dialogue and waiting for a judicial decision,” Carvalho said.
The Indians’ hopes rest on the fact that environmental and judicial officials have questioned the need for the power project.
The project’s owners say they have a permit from Mato Grosso environmental regulators, but prosecutors allege that only the Brazilian Environmental Institute has the power to grant such a permit.
The courts froze the project, but the owners appealed and were allowed to continue work on a temporary basis.
Prosecutors filed a new appeal two weeks ago, seeking to stop construction of the power plant.
The hydro-electric plant, which will cost some $2.1 million, is being constructed between the cities of Campinopolis and Paranatinga in Mato Grosso.
Some 1,290 hectares (3,185 acres) will be flooded as part of the project.
