Dispute Over Amazon Power Line Resolved

Ending a long-standing dispute with the government, Indian tribes signed an accord Friday allowing construction to resume on a high-voltage power line that cuts through the Amazon rain forest to link Venezuela and Brazil.

The agreement ends a conflict between 24,000 Indians in Venezuela’s southern rain forests and a government eager to fulfill its contractual obligations to Brazil.

Fifty-four leaders of the Pemon, Karina, Akawaio, and Arawako tribes traveled overnight to Caracas from the southeastern state of Bolivar to approve the deal accepted in their local communities last week.

“The government has made us a promise. I just hope they keep it,” said 23-year old Jorge Perez, an indigenous representative.

The $100-million, 360-mile project will provide energy to Indian communities, gold-mining companies and towns in northeastern Brazil.

Brazil and Venezuela initially planned the 200-megawatt line two years ago, and Brazil finished its part of the construction last year.

But Indians who claimed that the government was ignoring their constitutional rights forced Venezuela to halt construction last year by knocking down towers and blocking highways along the Brazilian border.

Environmental groups say the project has already destroyed fragile rain forests.

The electric lines will slice through Canaima National Park, home to the world’s longest cascade, Angel Falls, and to mysterious flat-topped mountains that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic novel “The Lost World.”

The agreement also creates a presidential commission, made up of government and tribal representatives, which will oversee the deeding of land to Indians. It also provides financial aid to communities affected by the construction.

“This agreement has special significance because it is the first in the spirit of the constitution directly expressing the rights of indigenous people,” Vice President Isaias Rodriguez said at the signing ceremony.

A new constitution pushed through by President Hugo Chavez last year requires tribal approval of construction projects of “grand magnitude” in lands historically occupied by indigenous groups.