– and a Xakriabá was murdered in Minas Gerais

 

Campaign called “Guarani People, Great People!” was launched in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul

 

Between September 21 and 23, the campaign “Guarani People, Great People!” will be launched in the Tey´ kue village, near the municipality of Caarapó, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Resulting from a strengthened continental articulation of the Guarani people, the campaign intends to show to society the value of this people, and to intensify the fight for their rights, especially to life and to a land of their own.

 

Today, 225,000 Guarani are living in South America. They live in Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil. It is the people with the largest population in our country, about 50,000 people in eight states (Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul and Pará).

 

In Brazil, there are many references to the Guarani people (in the literature, music, painting, cinema). Although they are so present, the Guarani people remain virtually invisible. What is known is that their children die undernourished, their lands are invaded, they suffer with a high murder rate – that is, the State disregards their minimal rights. But, despite this reality, the Guarani people are still resisting in some parts of their territory, including metropolises such as São Paulo and Porto Alegre. They are fighting to reoccupy the rest of their land, maintaining their beliefs, language, their solidarity-based economy and way of living.

 

The campaign will rely on the participation of Guarani leaders from the Guarani People’s Assembly – (APG) and the Central Network of Organizations of Native Guarayos Peoples, both from Bolivia, and Teachers and chiefs coming from Argentina, Paraguay, and from the states of Espírito Santo, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Regarding other indigenous peoples in Brazil, leaders from the Irantxe and Myky (state of Mato Grosso), Kwaza and Migueleno (state of Roraima), and Terena (state of Mato Grosso do Sul) will also take part in this campaign.

 

The launching of the campaign is supported by the Peasantry Research and Promotion Center – Cipca (Bolivia), Guarani Masters and Leaders and the Aborigine Pastoral Team – Endepa (Argentina), Guarani Leaders and the National Coordination of the Indigenous Pastoral – Conapi (Paraguay), the Committee of Guarani Kaiowá Teachers and Leaders, the Indianist Missionary Council – Cimi, the Native Amazon Operation – PAHO, the Ecumenical Service Coordination – Cese and Norad (Brazil).

 

Campaign Background

 

In 2005, indigenous leaders and organizations and experts in indigenous affairs began to develop a dialogue on possible joint actions. In the following year, they held the “First Guarani Continental Meeting” in São Gabriel (state of Rio Grande do Sul), to celebrate the memory and resistance of the indigenous peoples of the 7 missions and the 250th anniversary of the death of their leader, Sepé Tiaraju.

 

About 1,500 Guarani from Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay who attended the meeting decided to restore the power of their joint organization and, throughout the year, they discussed how to carry out a large continental campaign.

 

Since then, the Committee of Guarani Kaiowá Teachers and Leaders to Cimi in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul took the initiative to produce materials (a folder, a magazine, a poster and a website) to show the reality faced by the Guarani people and to disseminate the “Commitment Letter: Yvy Poty. In Defense of Life, the Land and the Future.”

 

In April of this year, the 2nd continental meeting was held in the state of Porto Alegre, during which political links were enhanced, as well as the desire of the Guarani people to engage in a comprehensive and joint struggle. The proposal of the campaign was presented in plenary and it was embraced by all those attending the meeting.

 

For further information see: www.campanhaguarani.org.br

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Xakriabá was murdered in the state of Minas Gerais

 

The victim, Avelino Nunes da Costa, 40, was brutally beaten by four boys in the wee hours of Sunday (September 16) in the Virgínio community, located in the municipality of Miravânia (state of Minas Gerais) – which borders on the Xakriabá area. Avelino was sleeping on a square bench after attending a party, and could not defend himself when the boys began to kick him in the head.

 

According to the team of the East Cimi office, which follows up on activities in the region, this violent action cannot be considered as an isolated fact. It took place within the context of the fight of the Xabriabá people for reoccupying their territory.

 

Avelino was directly engaged in the struggle for the land. He was a member of the group that reoccupied an area in the region of Dizimeiro, located in the Peruaçu valley, in April 2007. This murder shows how the Xakriabá people are neglected and discriminated against. In the 1980s, three of their members were killed because of land conflicts.

 

Since they began to reoccupy their territories, the Xakriabá people are being threatened. Several police reports were filed in the police stations of São João das Missões, Manga and Itacarambi. All these police reports were also communicated to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and to FUNAI, but no action was taken.

 

The leaders feel threatened by the lack of protection from the State. Santo Xakriabá, from the Morro Vermelho village, agrees and stresses, “if this neglect on the part of Funai, which abandoned us, continues, more people can die.”

 

After Avelino’s murder, three assaulters were arrested in the city of Manga (state of Minas Gerais). Two of them were adolescents aged 15 and 16 and the third one, Edson Gonçalves, was 18 years old. The assaulters told the police that they did not mean to kill Avelino. They just wanted to scare him. “We only wanted to beat him, take off his clothes and then leave,” they said.

 

The team of the East Cimi office is following up on this case together with the indigenous community and the legal authorities. “We intend to follow up on each step taken by the courts, so that society and its institutions may know that people cannot do something like this and get away with it,” stressed Wilson Mário Santana, the coordinator of the East Cimi office.

 

Brasília, September 20, 2007.

 

Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council