Agenzia Fides

Marãiwatsédé (Agenzia Fides) - The indigenous population Xavante of Marãiwatsédé in the state of Mato Grosso, continues to fight to regain their territory of origin.
Although in 1998 the Brazilian government recognized, through the Fundación Nacional del Indio (FUNAI), Marãiwatsédé as an indigenous territory, approved with 165,241 hectares, corrupt politicians and businessmen in the region carried out an illegal invasion of the process, trying to prevent the return of the land to the population. Only in 2004 the government returned the property, although much is occupied by breeders and farmers. After 40 years of exile, the Xavante of Marãiwatsédé have found a bleak landscape: almost 90% of the Amazon forest destroyed, from which their ancestors had made a livelihood. In most of the deforested land life has almost completely disappeared. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 25/6/2012)