There is an increasingly hostile climate in Buerarema, a town in the Brazilian state of Bahia, since on March 10th, when unidentified armed police invaded Serra do Padeiro, a Tupinambá indigenous village, and arrested their leader Rosivaldo Ferreira da Silva. Locally known as Cacique Babau, Rosivaldo is a strong and sometimes contentious advocate of indigenous life style and self-sufficiency. A few days after his arrest and transfer to the capital Salvador, his brother Gil Ferreira was also arrested – again, as he had been allegedly tortured by Federal Police last year. Both of them have now been transferred to the Federal Penitentiary in another state, Rio Grande do Norte, further away from their family and solicitors. Their detentions have increased the tension in the region, and Amnesty International fears that, as in the past, the Federal Police will use further excessive force. In 2000, a year after the 500th anniversary of Brazil's “discovery” in Porto Seguro, the Tupinambá of Olivença, who live nearby, began to take direct action to reoccupy their ancestral lands. Conflict over the territory increased in April 2009, when the National Foundation of the Indian (FUNAI, a governmental protection agency for Indian interests and their culture) recognized an area of 47,000 hectares as indigenous property. The conflict continues unresolved in the courts, and as the federal government has not yet signed into law the creation of the Tupinambá demarcated indigenous land, the area remains a source of conflict and dispute. In addition to a series of confrontations with the Federal Police, there has been also violent conflict with landowners in the past . According to reports, gunfire broke out again [pt] between the Federal Police and the Tupinambá in the end of March, during an attempt of repossession of a private farm occupied on February 19th. Anthropologist Mércio Gomes [pt] depicts the complicated background of the latest incidents: O ex-ministro Tarso Genro assinou uma portaria de demarcação contendo cerca de 48.000 hectares de terras nos municípios ao sul de Ilhéus, incluindo fazendas e fazendolas de cacau e o complexo turístico da região. Muita confusão rola por lá, os fazendeiros não estão dispostos a abrir, os índios estão na esperança de conseguir algo e não querem negociação, e está se processando na mídia a satanização do principal líder tupinambá, Rosilvado, vulgo Babau, que está preso por acusações de invasão de propriedades e resistência a prisão. Para resolver esse problema o governador do estado, Jaques Wagner, escalou o deputado Geraldo Simões, que tem interesse político na região para se reeleger. O referido deputado quer uma re-negociação do tamanho da proposta da Funai e a culpa por isso. Bem, se o deputado quiser ser justo nas acusações de praxe, tem que culpar o ex-ministro Tarso Genro, que acatou a proposta da Funai, mas aí são outros quinhentos. To overcome this problem, the state Governor Jaques Wagner delegated it to local member of parliament Geraldo Simões, whose political interest in the region is to be reelected. Simões calls for a re-negotiation of FUNAI's proposed size [of the reservation] and blames FUNAI [for the confusion]. Well, if the deputy wants to be fair in his typical complaints, he has to blame former Minister Tarso Genro, who accepted FUNAI's proposal, but then it is another matter. (Sean Hawkey/ACT) On the other hand According to Indigenous and human rights advocacy groups, Rosivaldo Ferreira da Silva's arrest was illegal, and the Federal Public Prosecutor is now filing a habeas corpus on his behalf, demanding that he is either brought before a court or released. Not everyone, however, is convinced of this version. Juarez Vicente de Carvalho [pt] does not even believe Babau deserves to be called an Indigenous person and calls for his punishment: Essas mesmas entidades ignoram e apóiam as arbitrariedades cometidas por esse “índio” e a sua gang, invadindo e destruindo as propriedades alheias sem punição e desobedecendo as determinações judiciais. Garantida a liberdade do cacique, o Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais (GTNM) deve entrar com pedido de inclusão de Babau no Programa de Proteção aos Defensores dos Direitos Humanos. Esse grupo deveria colocar sob proteção pessoas que há mais de 30 anos vivem em suas propriedades e são atingidas e ameaçadas por esse bandido que se diz índio e sua gang. No Brasil há essa inversão de valores. Bandidos fora da cadeia. Pessoas de bem presas. If freedom is guaranteed for the chief, the human rights organization Torture Never Again (Tortura Nunca Mais) shall apply for an application for the inclusion of Babau into the Program to Protect Human Rights Defenders.