A Brazilian indigenous group urged authorities to initiate talks after taking seven fishermen hostage for trespassing into their area in midwestern Brazil, local press reported Tuesday.
The hostages were allegedly fishing in the Japuira protected area Sunday when they were captured by members of the indigenous group Rikbaktsa, who took them to their village in Juara, 708 km from Cuiaba, capital of Mato Grosso state.
According to the head of the National Foundation for Indians, Antonio Carlos de Aquino, the hostages were not being mistreated. The Rikbaktsa has requested that federal and state government representatives be present during negotiations to release the fishermen.
De Aquino said the tribe members, who all wore body paint and were armed with bows and arrows, said they would not release the fishermen until they were heard by representatives from Brasilia and Cuiaba.
A lack of response so far from the authorities is making them "anxious" and "impatient", he added.
The Rikbatsa said the fishermen were on six boats, equipped with nets and other fishing tools, which constitutes industrial fishing in an environmentally protected area. Therefore, they are requesting the presence of the federal police, which is responsible for arresting environmental crime suspects.
Approximately 800 members of the Rikbaktsa ethnic group live in the region in question, and this is first time they have held intruders captive since 2002, when miners invaded the area.
Source:Xinhua
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