Petition against the eviction of the Guarani-Kaiowá

To: the Secretariat for Human Rights of the Federal Republic of Brazil / Secretaria de Direitos Humanos da Presidência da Republica.
The Guarani-Kaiowá of the Laranjeira Ñanderu indigenous community in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, which includes many children and elderly people (170 people including 110 children) are at risk of eviction from an area they claim as ancestral lands.

The land has been brutally taken from the Indians since the 1960s, to make way for cattle ranches, soybean production, and more recently sugarcane production. Since then, The Guarani have continually suffered violence, intimidation, and various brutal evictions.

The Guarani have nothing left. They still suffer intimidation, poverty, unfair imprisonment, malnutrition, assassinations and an immense despair. To make a life they are forced to work for the farmers in conditions close to slavery. They are killed by gunmen working for the farmers. Young people, even children, commit suicide, and/or become dependant on alcohol and dangerous drugs. The children drink water that is poisoned by the pesticides used by the farmers...

Despite the efforts of the National Indian Foundation of Brazil (FUNAI), attempts to get the community rights to their land have failed, largely because of the pettitioning and lobbying of big farmers and politicians.

The Indians had previously spent one and a half years living on the side of a main road, with little access to clean water and health care. Some Guarani were run over and killed by passing cars.

Since they returned to a part of their land last May, the conditions of life of the Guarani have greatly improved, they do have some access to clean water, and they started to regain their dignity.

On 27 January a judge served the Guarani-Kaiowá indigenous community of Laranjeira Ñanderu with an eviction order giving them 15 days to leave farmlands which they are occupying pending the resolution of their land claims.
The measure was assessed on 6 February, while an other federal judge was favorable for the remaining of the Guarani Kaiowá in the territory. But the 27 februari, the judge Stefanini made an other vote against the demarcation of indigenous countries and promoting the recovery of the area by the farmers. Since that the process has been "seen" and the future of the Guarani-Kaiowa families remains uncertain.

If evicted, the community will be forced to live on a small plot of land near a highway, without adequate access to water, shade or area to plant crops, or in an overcrowded reserve where violence, malnutrition, disease and suicide are rife.

We implore the authorities of Justice of Brazil to cancel the eviction order!

Please do everything to stop this eviction, and give adequate protection to the Guarani Kaiowa of Mato Grosso do Sul. Help them recover and keep their historical land, and stop the ongoing violence they suffer.


Xavier Perriot, In partnership with the associations: Força e Coragem , Aeda enfants d'Amazonie, Yvy    Contact the author of the petition