Brazil's last hunter-gatherer Indian tribe, the Awa, recently won legal recognition for its land after 20 years of hard struggle. Helped by pressure group Survival International, the 300 surviving tribal people cleared their land of illegal ranchers and settlers and demarcated their territory. The ruthless encroachers had earlier forced the Awa to flee into the rainforests to escape murder.
A Survival spokesperson said that while the demarcation of the land was "a major step" for the Awas' future "the battle was by no means won." The group now plans to collect signatures from more than 40,000 activists and submit the petition to the Brazilian embassies in London and Madrid.
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