2008-05-07 05:06:59 -
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - Brazilian police trying to defuse a tense Amazon conflict between rice farmers and Indians arrested a farm leader Tuesday, after his guards opened fire on indigenous Brazilians who were trying to build homes on land he claims he owns.
Paulo Cesar Quartiero, who is also the mayor of the remote
town of Pacaraima where he has vast plantation holdings, was taken into custody, although no details were immediately released on the accusations he faces, according to Agencia Brasil, the official government news agency.
His arrest happened after Brazil's government sent Justice Minister Tarso Genro to the remote region, which borders Venezuela, following the clash a day earlier between indigenous settlers and Quartiero's workers.
The conflict between rice farmers and Indians in the northern state of Roraima has been simmering for months, but erupted in violence Monday after guards working for Quartiero opened fire on Indians building homes on the controversial Raposa Serra do Sol Indian reservation.
One of 10 people injured by the shooting remains in serious condition, said Dionito de Souza, a Macuxi Indian chief and coordinator of the Roraima Indigenous Council.
«They were building houses on land close to the farm and the gunmen just came shooting,» Souza said in telephone interview.
Quartiero said his men fired in self-defense after the indigenous settlers refused to leave his property and attacked them with clubs and arrows.
Amateur video footage aired on Globo TV showed hooded gunmen shooting and throwing things that the network described as «homemade bombs» at the Indians.
Justice Minister Genro flew to the region to prevent more bloodshed, and Quartiero's arrest was announced late Tuesday night.
About 140 officers from Brazil's elite national security force are already in the region, and additional police will be sent, Federal police spokeswoman Flavia Diniz said, although she did not know how many police were en route.
Brazil's government officially recognized the reservation in 2005 _ requiring outsiders to leave.
But owners of six, big rice farms and other settlers have blocked their ouster with violent protests and in court. In April, the Supreme Court ordered the government to suspend an operation to remove settlers until justices could study the issue.
Associated Press Writer Michael Astor contributed from Rio de Janeiro.
