Brazil court delays ruling on Indian rights case

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's Supreme Court delayed a ruling on Wednesday over the future of an Indian reserve on the country's northern border, a case seen as one of the most important in years on indigenous rights.

A panel of 11 judges is to vote on whether to uphold a petition by two Roraima state senators who contest the creation of the 4.2-million-acre (1.7-million-hectare) reserve in 2005 and have asked for it to be reduced in size.

The proceedings were stalled after one of the judges, Carlos Alberto Menezes Direito, asked for more time to look into the case.

The first and only judge to have voted so far, Carlos Ayres Britto, rejected the complaint, saying the reserve's current shape and size had to be maintained to ensure the Indians could preserve their way of life.

"Fragmented demarcation, like Swiss cheese, makes it impossible to adhere to the constitution," Britto told reporters after the adjournment, referring to alternative proposals advanced by the two senators and Roraima farmers.

The governor of Roraima says the Raposa-Serra do Sol reserve -- about the size of Kuwait -- is too big for the 17,000 Indians inhabiting it. Mining, agricultural and timber officials say Indians are an obstacle to economic development.

The army's chief Amazon commander as well as conservative congressmen have said the reservation could compromise national security by allowing Colombian guerrilla fighters and drug traffickers to gain a foothold.

The Makuxi, Wapixana, Ingariko, Taurepang and Patamona tribes and their supporters say the reservation is being targeted, sometimes violently, by big farming and other economic interests.

The dispute flared in April when police tried to evict rice farmers from the reservation in Brazil's northernmost state, which borders Venezuela and Guyana.

The farmers resisted by blocking roads, blowing up bridges and hiring gunmen. Ten Indians were wounded in a shootout in May and a farm leader was arrested.

The head of the government Indian agency, Marcio Meira, told Reuters last month a Supreme Court decision annulling the reservation would be the biggest blow to Indian rights in more than 20 years.

There are more than 750,000 Indians among Brazil's population of 185 million and their lands account for 12 percent of Brazil's territory. Last year 92 Indians were killed in land disputes.

(Reporting by Fernando Exman; Writing by Stuart Grudgings; editing by Peter Murphy and Todd Eastham)