Brazil: Guarani Kaiowá executed by the Military Police in retake of land

According to A Nova Democracia, on Wednesday 18, the indigenous Neri Kaiowá was shot dead by military police (MP) troops in an operation in the Nhanderu Marangatu Indigenous Land (IL). According to information from the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI), a woman was also hit in the leg by gunfire and the indigenous’ houses were destroyed. An AND’s local correspondent reported that the police worked together with the goons of the latifundium. Aty Guasu, Guarani-Kaiowá Grand Assembly, denounced that the MP is not letting people from outside the IL enter to report or help the people. Additionally, the alteration of the crime scene by moving the body was denounced. That generated revolts among the peasants, who tried to recover the body.

Last week was marked by attacks by goons with the help of the MP. On Thursday 12, three indigenous people were shot by the MP in the Nhanderu Marangatu IL: Juliana Gomes remains hospitalized in Ponta Porã after being shot in the knee with a lethal weapon; the sister and a young man were shot with rubber bullets.

The military police were on site on September 18 following the request of Luana Ruiz (Liberal Party), one of the main organizers of the latifundium in Mato Grosso do Sul, special advisor to the Civilian House of the State Government of Mato Grosso do Sul. Luana is the daughter of Roseli Ruiz and Pio Queiroz Silva, owners of the Farm Barra, where the retake by the Guarani-Kaiowá happened.

Luana Ruiz is the legal responsible which allows the Military Police of Governor Eduardo Riedel (PSDB) patrolling the latifundium, in addition to a 24-hour presence of private security guards. Currently she is designated in several political positions, including first replacement by the Liberal Party in the National Congress, as well as she was in the Secretary of Special Agrarian Issues of the Ministry of Agriculture, what makes her an active element against the demarcation of indigenous lands. Luana Ruiz was leading the attempt to implement a Parliamentarian Commission of Investigation against CIMI in 2019 and thus to attempt to criminalize this association.

Even though the direct responsibility is from the latifundium of Mato Grosso do Sul, as AND highlights: “But the federal government also is part of the responsibility for the tragedy. So far, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples (MPI) has said nothing on the matter. Neither does President Luiz Inácio. As the MP responds to the State government, it is likely that the government, if it needs to deal with the situation, would try to exclude itself from any blame.”

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