Who owns the Amazon?
Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 11:00AM ■"Brazil Carves Outs 2 Vast Preserves in the Amazon Rain Forest," by AP, New York Times, 18 February 2005, p. A5.
The real seam that defines Brazil is the Amazon, the bulk of which is an almost uncontrollable expanse. The Amazon is roughly half of the country, and the huge Para state exemplifies this sort of frontier lawlessness/justice, where ranchers rule with an iron fist right out of some nasty Sergio Leone Western. Private logging companies and ranchers have been digging deeper into the Amazon for years. Resistance arises, an American nun is assassinated, and Lula responds with two decrees creating a vast new reserve.
Who owns the Amazon? That has always been the question, and the lack of an answer to that question has always been a source of violence and woe for Brazil. We shall see if Lula's answer works, and how he'll enforce it.
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