Situation of Indigenous Peoples in Mato Grosso do Sul
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INDIGENIST MISSIONARY COUNCIL - CIMI
During the period from 1986 to 1997, 244 suicide deaths were
recorded among the Guarani-Kaiowá from MS, a number which
nearly tripled in the last decade. From 2000 to 2013 there were
684 cases. "The current living conditions of the indigenous peoples,
which lead to staggering statistics of violence, have origins in a
historical process", explains the State Prosecutor Marco Antonio
Delfino de Almeida, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) in Dourados
(MS). "What happened was a brutal transference, by the Union, of
indigenous territories to non-indigenous".
The transfer took place, mainly, by the then Indigenous
Protection Service (SPI) who created, between 1915 and 1928,
eight small reservations in the Southern State, where different
indigenous peoples were forced to migrate. "The reserves served
as a giant deposit of labor being used for economic interests. The
whole process of indigenous containment had as its main purpose
to use the indigenous as manpower for agricultural projects
deployed in the country, since the culture of yerba mate until
recently, with the sugar cane", completes the Attorney.
The Dourados Indian Reserve is one of the most damning
examples of this historical process. Nestled in the urban perimeter
of the municipality, on the reservation live today more than 13
thousand natives on 3.6 hectares of land. This is the highest
population density among all traditional communities of the
country, and where 18 of the 73 cases of suicide in the State took
place in 2013.
Otoniel Guarani-Kaiowá a, leader of his people, believes that
the reason so many young people commit suicide is the lack of
perspective: "They have no future, no respect, no work and no land
to grow and live. They choose to die because, in fact, are already
dead inside".
HOL
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