Amazon Indian conflicts flare before Brazil vote

When Amazon Indians armed with bows and arrows invaded a Brazilian iron ore mine this month, they drew attention to a smouldering problem President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will face if he wins re-election as expected today.

Lula has staked his campaign on aid for the needy, especially a new welfare programme that reaches 11 million poor families.

But some of Brazil's poorest - including thousands of Indians, many on reservations in the Amazon rainforest - have seen life get tougher under Lula, tribal leaders say.

The Indian population numbered an estimated five million when Portuguese explorers first landed in 1500 in what would become Brazil. Over the centuries, they have suffered enslavement, extermination campaigns, disease and neglect.

They now number about 734,000 in around 230 tribes, according to government figures. Flare-ups in recent years have been frequent.

Last week, more than 200 Xikrin tribe members donned feathers and war paint, and descended on the Carajas mine in the eastern Amazon, trapping workers and nearly forcing one of the world's largest miners to cancel million-dollar deliveries.

The occupation ended peacefully when the Indians agreed to talks. But many incidents have ended in violence.

More than 120 Indians were killed in three years, triple the number killed in the preceding three-year period. Police have also found the bodies of miners on Cinta Larga tribal lands in the western Amazon after a diamond strike started drawing poor fortune hunters to the area.