Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Mato Grosso do Sul

+ INDIGENIST MISSIONARY COUNCIL - CIMI MATO GROSSO DO SUL: A PLACE WHERE CATTLE WORTHS MORE THAN AN INDIGENOUS CHILD Flavio V. Machado¹¹ In Mato Grosso do Sul, there are indigenous lands that have seen no advance for nearly 30 years in these specific phases of regularization, whether through political and constitutional incapacity of the Executive branch, and/or by a morosity and partiality of the Brazilian Judiciary. And yet, there are lands that even though the demarcation process has been concluded, are still invaded by large scale agribusiness land owners, while indigenous communities are forced to live in small spaces surrounded by soybean, sugar cane, cattle and highways. At present the Kaiowá, Guarani, Terena, Guató, and Kinikinau Ofayé indigenous lands listed on the map, total just under 140,000 hectares 12 corresponding to 0.39% of the territory of southern Mato Grosso do Sul. Of these lands little more than 50% are in effective possession of the indigenous peoples, that is, approximately 75,000 ha. The rest, a good part of them, under court order, are still in the possession of various types of rural producers and related agribusiness companies. In the case of the Guarani Kaiowá lands, in studies (already identified) and the encampments, this percentage of actual possession of the indigenous peoples, drops to less than 5%, that is, about 2600 hectares 13. The inhumanity is so absurd that circa 70 thousand head of cattle, of the more than 22.3 million that the State of Mato Grosso do Sul possesses, occupy an area equivalent to what is in effective possession of the Kaiowá, Guarani, Terena, Guató, Kinikinau and Ofayé peoples. Today the 45 thousand Guarani, the second largest indigenous people of Brazil, effectively occupy less than 20 thousand hectares. They claim for one million hectares of their traditional territories, which means only 2.2% of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul. This is about 11% of the territory that was once theirs, and today houses 27 municipalities, totaling more than 8.5 million hectares. Currently 21.4 million head of cattle occupy 23 million hectares 14, 68% of the land of the state Mato Grosso do Sul Eucalyptus occupies 14 million hectares 15 ; while soy occupies 2.1 million hectares 16 and the sugar cane occupies 800,000 hectares 17. 11 CIMI Regional Coordinator. 12See: Listas de terras indígenas. Procuradoria Geral da República - 6ª Câmara de Coordenação e Revisão - Índios e Minorias - http://ccr6.pgr.mpf.gov.br/documentos-e-publicacoes/terras-indigenas/terras- indigenas/ 13Multidisciplinary study carried out by NEPPI (Center for Research on Indi9genous Populations- Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre Populações Indígenas) of Dom Bosco Catholic University in Mato Groisso do Sul and NEPO (Center for Population Studies) in partnership with the office of the public defender (Ministerio Público Federal in Brasilia. Presented at the IX Reunião de Antropologia do MERCOSUL, 10-13 July, 2011 - Curitiba, PR. 14http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/economia/ppm/2012/ 15http://www.douradosagora.com.br/noticias/economia/ms-tem-14-milhoes-de-ha-para-plantio-de-eucalipto 16http://revistagloborural.globo.com/Revista/Common/0,,ERT318914-18077,00.html 17http://www.conab.gov.br/conteudos.php?a=1253& 39

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