Brazil – Occupation of lands and attacks by goons in Dourados
We hereby share an unofficial translation of a report published by A Nova Democracia.
On 14th of May, the Aty Guasy, Great Assembly of the Guarani-Kaiowá People, denounced the attack by gunmen against the Occupation Kurusu Ambá, in the bordering town of Coronel Sapucaia. According to the report, armed thugs are conducting daily incursions against the occupation of lands, deliberately shooting at the indigenous community in the region.
This new attack comes at a time when the Guarani-Kaiowá have systematically rejected the federal government’s policy under Luiz Inácio and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples regarding the Conciliation Table between big landlords and indigenous people, as a way to attempt to diminish indigenous land occupations in the state.
This policy is coordinated with the state government of Governor Eduardo Riedel, known as the “most Bolsonarist politician of the PSDB” [Translator’s note: Brazilian Social Democracy Party].
Kurusu Ambá is a territory where the Guarani-Kaiowá resistance has been established since 2007, when this occupation of lands began. At that time, two leaders were murdered, one of them on the Madama latifundium.
According to the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi), “since 2007, more than ten indigenous people have lost their lives in attempts to retake this same territory.” In 2015, the indigenous people attempted to occupy their stolen territory again, where the previously mentioned latifundium is located, but were expelled by goons and big landlords. As a result, two children went missing, houses were burned, and there were dozens of injured.
In 2016, after another armed attack, an entire camp was set on fire by the goons, according to Cimi. Additionally, in that same year, as attacks by big landlords intensified in the region, various reports emerged about the frequency of how the attacks were carried out. Even after the visit of the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, to the Occupation Kurusu Ambá, there were attacks, as “hours later, goons on horses and in vans attacked the community with gunfire. The attack was repeated two days later.”
