Sao Paulo/Boa Vista, Brazil - Rice farmers refused to heed a court order to vacate one of the largest reservation for indigenous Brazilians as a deadline expired Thursday. Brazil's office for indigenous affairs, Funai, said shortly before the deadline expired at midnight that 20 non-indigenous families remained in the reservation in the northern state of Roraima.
The country's Supreme Court rule in early April that the invading approximately 50 rice farmers had to leave the 1.7-million-hectare Raposa Serra do Sol reservation, and granted sole use to the 18,000 indigenous Brazilians living in the area.
The remaining families are likely to be evicted by police, officials said. Farmers said they were not resisting the eviction, but put the delays down to logistical problems, the official Agencia Brasil news agency said.
The region's largest rice farmer, Paulo Cesar Quartiero, who also operates in the region, accused the government of "legalized robbery."
Raposa, demarcated in 1998, is home to people of the Macuxi, Wapichana, Taurepang, Ingarcio and Patamona ethnic groups.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Sila officially recognized the reservation after decades of legal battles in 2005, but continued legal wrangling over the evictions only ended with the final Supreme Court decision in April. On Thursday, the government made clear that there would be no further extension of the deadline.
The court ruling, however places limits on the indigenous peoples' rights, allowing the government to install military bases or develop alternative energy sources and exploit strategic natural resources.
