Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Mato Grosso do Sul
teme
INDIGENIST MISSIONARY COUNCIL - CIMI
In recent years various important initiatives have emerged. One
of these is the Guarani continental gatherings. There have already
been three, the most recent one at the end of 2010, in Asuncion,
Paraguay. This movement began to give new strength to the large
Guarani Nation. There are more than a thousand communities,
located in five South American countries (Paraguay, Argentina,
Brazil, Bolivia and Uruguay), with a total population of more than
300 thousand persons.
The Campaign "Guarani People, a Great People", which was
jointly organized by the Missionary organizations of these
countries, as a CIMI initiative, proposes to be a space of joint
support to the struggles of the Guarani for their rights. It was
born basically out of the gravity of the situation of violence and
denial to land that the Kaiowá Guarani suffer in Mato Grosso do
Sul. The Campaign seeks to stimulate processes of information
and formation/training together with the Guarani and in the civil
societies in the diverse countries and the entire world. Toward
this, CIMI maintains a site with the news in Portuguese, Spanish
and Guarani: www.campanhaguarani.org In addition to this, it
has supporters and sites in Europe in diverse languages, such as
German, English and Dutch. It has developed several international
campaigns for the rights of the Guarani peoples and supported the
Continental Encounters.
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES...
The Guarani Kaiowá die prematurely, they die for banal reasons,
they die from working in the sugarcane fields, in conflicts, from
alcoholism, vehicular homicide, from the bullets of gunmen. Their
youth commit suicide or become victims of drugs. Their children
die for lack of assistance. The infant mortality rate is high. Many
die as a result of hunger and poor diet. Others die dreaming of the
land from which they have been expulsed and to which they seek
to return. There are relatively few elders in the communities. It is a
youthful population. But what the Guarani Kaiowá ardently desire
is to live; to live their teko (Guarani way of living) in their tekoha -
traditional lands. One sign of hope is evidenced in the large number
of children per family, much higher than the Brazilian average.
Besides the historical resistance, for these nearly five centuries
they have been defining and redefining relations and encounters
with the invaders of their lands, outlining strategies that have
permitted them to face the greatest of adversities, arriving in this
21st century as one of the most impressive peoples of southern
South America.
59View entire presentation