A court order for the eviction of the Guarani people occupying a portion of the Floresta ranch, in the Sombrerito indigenous territory, was overturned on 18 August. However, the Guarani occupying the nearby Yvy Katu territory still face the threat of violent eviction, which could leave them destitute.

 

The order was overturned by the president of the federal court, third region, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. In an e-mail to Amnesty International a local human rights defender, working with the Guarani,wrote:

 

“All those who supported the Guarani cause should be happy when they receive this news. Thank you all for your actions. Congratulations. Once again, in such difficult times, of provocation and deprivation of the Guarani, above all due to the lack of policies which guarantee their basic human rights, a victory such as this one, even though it seems small in relation to what they have been fighting for, has an enormous significance! Now we need to continue, so that we can attain the full legal guarantee of their right to the land. We also have to continue to pressure so that we can revert the eviction order against those living in Yvy Katu”.