www.survivalinternational.org/news/4959

Another Brazilian Indian community attacked and torched

Survival International
22 September


 
Damiana, religious leader of Apyka'y, by one of the burned out shacks - (c.) CIMI


In the early hours of 18 September, the Guarani Kaiowá community of Apyka'y in Brazil was attacked by ten gunmen, who fired shots in to their camp, wounding one Indian.

The gunmen also beat up and injured other Indians with knives and then set fire to the Indians' shelters, which were destroyed along with their possessions.

The gunmen threatened the Indians and said if they did not abandon their camp on the roadside they would die. The community has no material with which to rebuild their camp and is living in fear of more attacks.

Survival has received reports that the local rancher's security guards have denied the Indians access to water on the ranch. It is believed the rancher set the gunmen on the community to stop them collecting water.

The Guarani-Kaiowá of Apyka'y have lived intermittently on the road side for six years and have tried several times to return to their tekoha or ancestral land, which they were forced to leave a decade ago when it was occupied by ranchers.

After the Indians' latest attempt to reoccupy their land, the rancher got an eviction order from the courts, and the community was evicted in April 2009.

In June 2009 the community of Apyka'y wrote a desperate letter to FUNAI, Brazil's Indian affairs department, urging it to comply with an agreement to demarcate all Guarani lands, "Will you demarcate land for the Indian? - We need to know what is happening about our land. Have we lost our land or not? - Will you resolve the land issue or not? It really has to be resolved for the sake of our community."

This latest attack comes four days after another Guarani-Kaiowá community camped along a highway was burned down by a rancher's security guards.


Act now to help the Guarani
Your support is vital for the Guarani's survival. Please write to the Brazilian government.
Please feel free to use the following letter as a guide or write one of your own:


To: Dr. Tarso Genro
Ministro da Justiça
Ministerio da Justiça
Esplanada dos Ministerios, Bloco T
Brasilia DF 70064-900
Brazil

[insert date]

Dr. Genro,

I am very concerned about the situation of the Guarani-Kaiowá tribe in Mato Grosso do Sul state. Most of the Guarani are crammed together in tiny reservations where there is not enough land to cultivate and sustain them. Overcrowding has resulted in high rates of suicide, alcohol abuse, internal violence, and severe malnutrition among children.

I urge you to take immediate steps to identify and demarcate all the territories claimed by the Guarani-Kaiowá. The long delay in recognising their land rights is putting the Indians' health and survival at risk. Unless and until the Guarani's land rights are fully recognised, I fear the situation will get worse.

Yours sincerely,
[your full name and address]