SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Brazil’s federal government said yesterday it would buy a former Congressman’s ranch and give the land to Terena Indians in a bid to quell a violent land dispute that has plagued the country’s agricultural belt for months.
President Dilma Rousseff’s government sent federal troops to the area in Mato Grosso do Sul state last month after an Indian was killed during a forced eviction from the property.
Brazil’s indigenous policy, which includes returning land to natives based on anthropological studies, is considered one of the world’s most progressive. But it has sparked violence since the country became an agricultural superpower and Indian policy clashed with farming interests.
