We condemn the murders committed in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, and demand justice.
El CLACSO Working Group on Latin American Critical Geographical ThoughtWe join in the grief of the wife and 6-year-old son of our comrade Vitor Fernandes Kaiowá, as well as the family of Márcio Moreira and all his people, who mourn their cold-blooded murders during the repressive actions of June 24th against the Guapo'y Mirin Tujury land reclamation in the municipality of Amambai, Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil. We join in the efforts to denounce the violence and repression of the State and associated private actors, who marginalize, devastate, and destroy the
Kaiowá and Guaraní lives, bodies and territories.
We urgently demand justice for Vitor Kaiowá, Márcio Moreira, Alex Kaiowá (murdered by a landowner), Alex Vasques Ricarte Lopes (murdered by landowners while gathering firewood near the reserve), and justice for all those fighting for the ancestral Kaiowá and Guarani territory. We demand justice for those wounded who bear the scars of this conflict on their bodies—their territory—and who suffer daily psychological pressure. We demand protection for the Guapo'y Mirin Tujury community, as well as the completion of an anthropological survey of the territory that comprises the Amambai Indigenous Reserve, home to the second largest Kaiowá and Guarani population in Mato Grosso do Sul.
The Amambai Indigenous Territory is one of the first to be demarcated in Mato Grosso do Sul, having been legally established in 1915 by the now-defunct Serviço de Proteção aos Índios (Indigenous Protection Service). These lands were officially recognized as indigenous territory in 1991 by the Fundação Nacional do Índio (National Indian Foundation) – Funai, an agency of the Brazilian federal government. Despite this, the so-called "Borda Ranch" illegally occupies 269 hectares within this indigenous territory. The ranch is owned by landowner Waldir Cândido Torelli, who also owns other ranches in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul and is an executive of VT Brasil Administração e Participação, a company that operates a chain of butcher shops in the state of São Paulo.
Furthermore, the Guapo'y Mirin Tujury Recovery community is being accused of hostile acts, drug trafficking, terrorism, being criminals, being invaders, and even being foreigners in their own territory. We request that the dissemination of such slander and racist hate speech cease.
They are only trying to criminalize the struggle to recover their indigenous territory.
To date, no one responsible for this massacre has been brought to justice, thus perpetuating injustice and impunity. Furthermore, the persecution and threats from landowners against the Guarani and Kaiowá indigenous communities continue daily.
Therefore, we remain in mourning and continue our struggle alongside the Kaiowá and Guarani peoples, and we demand the prosecution of João Gauto, the police captain in the Amambai Indigenous Reserve, as well as those involved from FUNAI (National Indian Foundation), since released audio recordings show their negotiation to perpetrate the massacre of June 24th. We also demand an end to the slander and racist hate speech that seeks to criminalize the recovery of the sacred lands of the Kaiowá and Guarani territory in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
We demand justice.
August 17th, 2022
CLACSO Working Group
Latin American critical geographical thought
This statement expresses the position of the Working Group Latin American critical geographical thought and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
