Brazil: Avá-Guarani protest against reached agreement
We hereby share an unofficial translation of an article published by A Nova Democracia.
After a large assembly with representatives from the 31 villages of the Indigenous Land Tekoha Guasu Ocoy Jacutinga and the Indigenous Land Tekoha Guasu Guavirá, the Administration Council of Itaipu Binational approved a partial agreement, authorizing the purchase of 3,000 hectares of land for indigenous communities.
According to a news article published on the website of the Guarani Yvyrupa Commission (CGY), the agreement officially recognizes the company’s historical debt due to the flooding of a large part of the traditionally occupied territory, the expels and forced displacements, the improper subdivision of land, real estate speculation, and the erasure of the families and indigenous communities that inhabited the region.
However, the indigenous communities report that the agreement does not compensate for all the losses caused by Itaipu, Funai, Incra, and the Union, which have impacted their lives for decades. Furthermore, they warn that the proposed area is insufficient to accommodate the 31 indigenous communities and that their just struggle for land will continue until the entire Avá-Guarani territory is reclaimed.
In a public letter titled “Letter from the Avá-Guarani People in Western Paraná Regarding the Partial Agreement with Itaipu,” the indigenous people express their disappointment, stating that they expected a real and complete historical reparation and that, instead, they received a crumb that they could not refuse, as they “literally have a gun pointed to their heads.”
The document emphasizes that the 3,000 hectares will not be enough to guarantee the traditional way of life (nhandereko) and that this amount of land would force the communities to live crowded together, like in urban neighborhoods, which will not be accepted. The letter also denounces that, despite the rhetoric of recognizing the historical debt, Luiz Inácio, Sônia Guajajara, and the director of Itaipu, Enio Verri, repeat the mistakes of previous governments by regularizing a small area that condemns the Avá-Guarani people to live without space and to be forced to coexist with other peoples, including those who have historically violated them.
The text also highlights the critical situation of indigenous families, who live under constant armed attacks, in tarpaulin shacks, without access to drinking water, without space for planting, without electricity, and under the stigma of being “invaders.”
Finally, the letter denounces that what the indigenous people are demanding is not much in light of all the violence and violations they face, and that while abundant resources are allocated to projects in partnership with the Federal Government, many of which benefit politicians and parties, the indigenous people continue to be treated with neglect.
