The Qom indigenous community from the province of Formosa were granted a hearing with the Supreme Court yesterday. After on-going issues with the provincial government over land rights, the commitment was made to introduce the Supreme Court as a “referee” and “mediator”.

Qom leader Felix Diaz (Photo: Patricio Guillamón)

The provincial government were joined by the National Parks Management and the National Institute for Indigenous Affairs in the pledge to the Supreme Court to accelerate proceedings in order to delineate and officially determine the community’s ancestral land rights. The community have been claiming the land for many years, and the granting of a hearing marks a significant step in their struggle to reclaim it.

The hearing saw an agreement that land studies and surveys would be conducted as soon as possible to determine the territorial boundaries of land which the Qom community has been claiming for years. The Supreme Court will decide whether the Qom’s claim over 5,187 hectares in Formosa is valid and should officially be listed as indigenous land, or whether it in fact belongs to the provincial or federal government.

Félix Díaz, head of the Qom community, asked President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to “contribute to the ending of this conflict by encouraging the claim of indigenous peoples through the application of law 26,160, and favour the results of the land survey.”

The hearing also saw important aspects agreed upon, such as the decision to hold meetings between official bodies later in the year to discuss climate issues and the potential flooding of the Pilcomayo river that frames the disputed territories.

As the hearing was taking place in Buenos Aires yesterday, in the province of Chaco -which borders Formosa- a Qom man, Florentín Díaz, was killed. His death has been met with accusations that it was caused by the violent police eviction of protesting communities. The government minister of Chaco stated that the official cause of death according to both the police and hospital is from “a traffic accident”, while the Institute for Chaco Aboriginals maintains that the death occurred at the hands of the police when Díaz escaped from their hold, and say that his son was killed alongside him. The death occurred during a time of extreme political and police crackdown on protesters from 13 different communities, including the Qom, who were protesting and created a road block. The police dismantlement of the protest left 50 injured, and over 100 people arrested.

The Qom communities reside principally in the Chaco, Formosa, and Sante Fe provinces of Argentina.

A music sheet with the national anthem of Argentina. (Photo: Wikipedia)

As part of the 200th anniversary of the Argentine national anthem tomorrow, an initiative headed by Jorge Ceballos of the leftist Libres del Sur party proposes changing its text to recognise the indigenous population of Argentina.

“It is necessary to pay adequate recognition and tribute to the indigenous peoples, whose spilt blood is part of the foundations of our state. From the successive ‘Desert Conquests’ to the current government, public policies regarding indigenous people were of extermination, exclusion and, nowadays, clientelism. You only need to look at the situation of the Qom in Formosa,” Ceballo explained.

Cebolla wants to include a quatrain that he wrote in the anthem, which recognises “the Inca rebellion” and “symbolises the struggle of the indigenous people against the oppressor.” You can read the proposed quatrain here.

On 11th May 1813 the anthem written by the politician, poet and former president Alejandro Vicente López y Planes was approved as the “sole national march”. President Julio Argentino Roca removed several of its strong anti-Spanish verses in 1900 in order to acknowledge good relations with Spain and a growing number of Spanish immigrants living in Argentina.

Félix Diaz, leader of the Qom community, speaks to the crowd in January 2011. (Photo Patricio Guillamón.)

Late Saturday night, 4^th May, a street gang brutally attacked two youths of indigenous descent in the northern province of Formosa. One of the victims is 21-year-old Abelardo Díaz, the son of Qom leader Félix Díaz.

The boys were surrounded by a mob of about 30 people that abruptly began beating them, allegedly using clubs and other objects to attack Abelardo and his peer Carlos Sosa. Both had to be hospitalised, first taken to a local clinic but later transferred to the Juan Domingo Perón hospital in the provincial capital.

Although most details about the attack are still unknown, the Qom community assumes that it is related to their fight to reclaim ancestral lands, in which Félix Díaz has played a key role. On 18^th April, Félix received a court order for his prosecution regarding the ‘theft’ of territory he claims for the Qom people.

Abelardo reported a similar instance in which he was beaten in June of last year, when another group armed with knives attacked him, threatening to slit his throat.

Attacks of indigenous people in the Formosa area are not uncommon. Just four months ago a young man from the Qom community was found unconscious after suffering a beating and later died in the hospital.

After his son’s hospitalisation, Félix stated: “My family continues being victim to this violence generated by the province again and again.” He added, “They criminalise me for ‘usurping’ our historic territories. However they will never break me — I will continue asking for respect for our rights and for true justice.”

Two weeks ago a group of congress members part of the Population and Human Development Commission headed by Antonio Riestra began a series of meetings with representatives from local indigenous groups to discuss the humanitarian situation of these communities in Formosa. During the talks, indigenous leaders called for a return of historic lands, access to healthcare, and bilingual education.

Daniel Asijak, 16, from the Qom indigenous community of Formosa, was found unconscious next to his motorcycle on the side of Road 86 with his cranium fractured.

The young man was transported to the Hospital Central de Formosa and spent three days in treatment before being declared dead because of the head injury. The exact circumstances of Asijak’s injury are not yet clear; his parents claim he was the victim of a beating, while the police say it was an accident.

“It wasn’t an accident, I don’t believe that,” said the father of the victim, Pablo Asijak to news agency DyN. While the police told the same agency that “the minor managed to tell his mother that it was an accident that caused his injury,” they also assure that there are witnesses of said statement.

Laureano Sanagachi, one of the leaders of the local Qom community, said that doctors at the hospital where Asijak was treated had said that the young Qom “had been beaten and he had a fractured cranium, result of a strong hit that could have been dealt with a metal bar”.

The Qom community released a statement saying they no longer knew “how to protect” their people and asking for “justice and peace”. The death of Daniel Asijak occurred just a few days after another young member of the same community was killed.

Imer Ilbercio Flores, 12, was beaten to death in Chaco, just 100 metres from a festival held at the municipal camping site of Villa Río Bermejito. Last month two members of the same community, Celestina Jara, 49, and her granddaughter, Natalia, 10 months old, were killed by gendarme Walter Cardozo.

The two victims were run over by the gendarme when they were riding a motorcycle with Ricardo Coyipe, Jara’s partner. Coyipe has said that the accident was intentional and that the policeman beat him while he was laying injured after the incident.

A woman and her granddaughter were killed on Sunday after they were hit by a car driven by a gendarme in Formosa province, just a few kilometres from the Paraguayan border.

Ricardo Coyipé, a leader within the local Qom community, was riding a motorcycle with his wife, Celestina Jara, and their 11-month-old granddaughter when the vehicle of officer Walter Cardozo, a gendarme, crashed into them. The woman and the baby were killed while the man is seriously injured.

Officer Cardozo is being accused of “manslaughter” by Judge Gabriel Garzón who appeared at the scene of the crime.

Ricardo Coyipé is an activist for rights of indigenous people, and is accused of playing a part in incidents that took place during a protest on route 86, on 23rd November 2010. Policemen killed two members of the Qom Community during the demonstration, which sparked a lengthy hunger strike.

According to the Rodolfo Walsh news agency, Coyipé is “very hurt” and was inititally “afraid to go to hospital.” He is now receiving attention in a hospital in the capital city of Formosa.

In his initial testimony, Coyipé reported that immediately after the crash, the gendarme got out of the car, and instead of assisting him, kicked him several times in the stomach and back. The incident is being investigated by local authorities.

Local Qom community leader, Felix Diaz, told the press that he thought the car crash was “a totally intentional act.”

On 7th August, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner inaugurated the Complejo Bilingüe Intercultural Consejo Nam Qom via videoconference, a bilingual Spanish-Qom school located in Pampas del Indio, a town 200km north of Resistencia, the capital of Chaco.

Qom is a language from the guaycurú family spoken by the Toba (or Qom) indigenous people who currently total an estimated 70,000 in Argentina and reside mainly in Formosa and Chaco provinces.

The educational complex was inaugurated via videoconference. (Photo courtesy of Chaco province)

The complex, which will house all three levels of education, from primary to tertiary, will be administered by the indigenous Qompi Council, in what they have called a system of ‘social indigenous administration’

The Minister of Education of Chaco, Francisco Romero, stated that having teachers that are fluent in the language will enable a more pedagogical structure for learning in the Qom language. For this reason, he explains that half the teachers will be indigenous, providing a more holistic approach to the learning process, that goes beyond just teaching the language. The school hopes to incorporate teachers that also are educated in the cultural practices of their ancestors.

The school’s principal, Miguel García, believes that the participation of the Qompi Council “will guarantee the educational integration of the indigenous peoples.”

The issue of disappearing indigenous languages is a growing concern internationally, and many wonder what kind of impact this will have in future generations as centuries of accumulated knowledge and wisdom could disappear with them. In that respect, the inauguration of the bilingual Qom school is Argentina’s first step towards protecting cultural history that could eventually be on the brink of survival.

Bigger Cities, Fewer Languages

With a population of seven billion, the world speaks an estimated 6,909 languages. The Linguistic Society of America (LSA), however, estimates that “80% of the world’s languages may vanish within the next century.”

And, according to the LSA, “when a community loses its language, it often loses a great deal of its cultural identity at the same time.”

The process of globalisation has brought with it a movement towards homogenising languages taught in schools, in an attempt to ease the incorporation of future adults into the global labour market. People are choosing to learn global languages like English, Spanish, and Mandarin in order to better navigate the world in which we live today. Currently, there are an estimated 328 million people with English as their first language and 845 million who primarily speak Mandarin.

As well, technology and greater ease of travel have decreased the gap between cultures. What is positive in terms of sharing information and easing cross-cultural understanding, can be devastating on a micro-cultural level. The problem is that smaller cultures are not usually protected or encouraged to thrive in such a large bowl of more dominant languages and cultures.

In the so-called ‘new world’, colonisation has been a massive historical factor in explaining the loss of indigenous languages too, as many of the original inhabitants of the lands who were not killed had to learn the coloniser’s tongue.

The Argentine Case

According to Ethnologue, an online database of language statistics, there are currently 473 languages that are on the verge of extinction, some within Argentina.

This is a very different panorama to the one 500 years ago when the Spanish first arrived, when there were 35 languages thriving in the territory that is now Argentina. Today, according to the United Nations, there are just 15, and two of them, Tehuelche and Chaná, are critically endangered – meaning only the eldest members of the community understand and speak the language.

The Qom language is not yet under threat. Currently, the Toba represent nearly 11.5% of the indigenous population of Argentina, and statistics from the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs show that around 60% of them can still speak and/or understand the Qom language. However, with each generation, fewer youths learn to speak the language as their communities are increasingly integrated into the Spanish-speaking world.

A Toba settlement near Resistencia in Chaco Province (Photo: Kate Stanworth)

Immigration from communities in rural areas to urban centres contributes greatly to this integration and interaction with Spanish-speakers. Whilst the vast majority of the Toba people live in rural settings in Chaco and Formosa, and some in the urban area of Greater Resistencia, they have not been immune to migration trends. An estimated 14,000 Toba have left the North East, one of the poorest areas in the country, and now live in the city of Buenos Aires and its surroundings.

As the need for knowledge of the Spanish language increases, it is hoped that the newly-inaugurated school in Chaco will encourage the preservation of cultural practices that could be lost down the line.

Programmes on integrating indigenous languages into the mainstream education system have already been started in other parts of the world, like New Zealand and Canada. Although the positive effects have so far only shown to be short-term, there is still hope that they will continue into the future. These revitalisation programmes, much like the bilingual school in Chaco, are an effort to reconnect generations in order to show the value in preserving the communities’ indigenous languages.

Back to School

The Complejo Bilingüe Intercultural Consejo Nam Qom has 12 classrooms and two additional rooms for technical education, spans 4,000m2, and can accommodate up to 900 students in three shifts. It will not only educate children, as it also includes a high school for adults, a vocational degree in nursing, and diplomas in Indigenous Social Communication and Indigenous Education.

The land the school is on was donated by two older residents and the Artists for Solidarity Foundation, and the provincial and national governments granted $18bn from the Solidarity Fund, generated from the taxes on soy exports.

Officials are hopeful for what the opening of the largest institute in Latin America to offer classes in an indigenous language could mean for the future.

Children in a Toba settlement near Resistencia in Chaco Province (Photo: Kate Stanworth)

Access to formal education respectful of the tobas’ tradition will provide a foundation for education that could help break the cycle of poverty that exists in the country’s north. It may help integrate the community and diminish the “social distance” between the ‘micro’ and ‘mega’ cultures.

The school may also provide bilingual speakers that could help others integrate, by providing translators and bilingual counsellors to those having difficulty adjusting to a fast-changing world. The possibility of bilingual outreach programs into city establishments, like the Derqui community, is a distinct possibility, hopefully a plausible one.

However, these are still speculations. As the new school begins to operate, the results will hopefully start to be seen and felt by the community soon.

Click here to find out what Argentines think about the role of the state in preserving indigenous culture.

For thousands of years previous to the European exploration, natives lived and prospered here in South America. But after decades of slaughter and integration, many parts of different indigenous cultures are being lost or forgotten. The very fabric on which an entire population is based is slowly being pulled out from under their feet.

However, the national government is willing to halt that decay by establishing the first ever bilingual school in Chaco where the students will learn both Spanish and their native language Qom. The hope is that through education students will be able to educate and eventually employ themselves while still maintaining a piece of their heritage. Similar instances have been tried in various countries, like the Maori people in New Zealand, and have been very successful. With the proper teachers and some government support, an entire generation will live on to pass down their culture and hopefully in turn send their children to the same school.

The Argentina Independent visited some of the parks in Buenos Aires to find out what people think about the government’s role in maintaining the language and culture of its indigenous peoples.

Paula Judkin, 42, Professor of Marketing, Palermo

I think it is a good idea. I like that the government is interested and active in maintaining the culture of the original people of the country. The indigenous people form an intricate part in our history and it would be a shame to lose any of that knowledge. The truth is there is not a lot of information or respect for native people here in Argentina. Schools have classes about indigenous people but it is not enough, it is very late in the education system. I think the natives have a right to learn both their language and Spanish. They should be able to preserve their language but I also think they need Spanish. I think it would be impossible to live and work in most parts of the country without knowing Spanish. I also think tourism is a great way to teach people here in Buenos Aires about the indigenous people in the interior of the country. People should be able to travel and learn about the different cultures that come with the different parts of our country.

Bessard Lynne Circee, 20, Occupational Therapy Student, Balvanera

I think this is very good because the indigenous people of Argentina were the first people to live here. They were here before Europe decided to explore, so technically this is their land that we live on. It is also good for children today to help teach them the history of the natives of Argentina. The school will help educate the people about the Qom language and the culture that comes with that language’s history. I also don’t think the cost is too much because it is the cost of education. This is going to help people understand, I think it will be very good and that school is the best way to do this. I don’t see anything in the near future that could overtake school as the best way to educate a country about its indigenous people. School is good because you start at a young age and by doing so you create a knowledge and respect of certain aspects of society like the natives and their culture.

Gabriel Rozengzeir, 44, Professor, Palermo 

I think the school is great because I think indigenous populations should have the right to have their own language. They should be able to learn their original language in a school and should be able to use that language everyday. Maintaining the culture of the indigenous people is very important also. They were the first people here and right now I think they have the worst education across Argentina. At least the worst access to education in a cultural perspective. I also think using the taxes is a good idea to raise money for the cost of building the school. The most important thing is to educate the indigenous people about maintaining their land, their language, and their culture but it is difficult. How do you educate them about their financial problems? How do you decide what to educate them about and what not to? They must also learn their rights but it is difficult.

Agostina Lanzone, 21, Music Student, Palermo

I think this is a good idea because they should be able to speak in their own language. However, I also think they will need knowledge of Spanish because it is the official language of Argentina. It is fantastic that the government is willing to spend time and money on preserving the culture of the natives of the country. I think it should be a right of everyone that the government try to maintain his or her culture, not just Qom in Chaco but elsewhere in the country as well. I think here there are people who know about the different cultures and people who don’t know, it depends on the situation but most people don’t know. I think though that this kind of education should be in every school in Argentina, not just in Chaco.

Joaquín Bondoni, 22, Musician, Palermo

For me, yes, I think it is important to support the correct culture, and by that I mean the culture that applies to the people who are living in a certain area. The indigenous are people as much people as you and I are. They were the original inhabitants of this land. It is ironic because now we come and take their natural resources and pretend like they have no right to argue. It is also important to maintain their culture because if we integrate their children too much that culture could be lost for the future generations. I think the best way of maintaining that culture is through education. We need to create a respect for these people, we need to respect them and their land like visitors coming into a foreign country because really that’s what it is. Not everyone here is white. Anyone who’s travelled will know about the different cultures in Argentina but the people who stay in certain areas only learn from online, the internet; we are lacking that education in schools in general.

Felix Díaz, the indigenous leader of La Primavera Qom community in Formosa, was yesterday hit by a black 4×4 whilst riding his motorbike in what appears to have been a pre-meditated attack. The truck fled the scene before gendarmes were able to detain the driver.

Díaz survived the incident, which happened on Ruta 86, a few kilometres from his home in Laguna Blanca, but is currently in intensive care at the hospital in Laguna Blanca.

Speaking to the Red Latina Sin Fronteras about the attack, Díaz said: “It wasn’t an accident. It was because of our territorial claim. In Formosa it is common that those who demand their rights are killed. The governor and national government are responsible.”

It is alleged the truck belonged to the Celía family, a powerful land-owning family who are friends with Formosa governor Gildo Insfrán, and have been involved in the appropriation of territories the Qom community lay claim to. The family are alleged to have already been involved in violent episodes involving the community since the territorial dispute began in 2010.

The dispute hit a violent crescendo on 23rd November 2010 after four months of protesting the construction of a university on their ancestral lands, community members were violently removed by police and armed civilians. The incident resulted in the death of Qom community member Roberto López and policeman Heber Falcón. Police also burned the community’s makeshift homes, and took their belongings and identification cards.

Led by Díaz, the Qom brought their struggle to Buenos Aires, where they camped out on 9 de Julio and Av. de Mayo for months, bringing their territorial claim onto the public’s agenda.

A hearing into the territorial claim of an indigenous group took place on Wednesday in the Supreme Court. The long-standing land dispute has come to court after the provincial government usurped members of the Qom community in Formosa, northern Argentina, in 2010.

Community leader, Félix Díaz, represented the Qom people and their ownership claim to 609 acres of ancestral land. Public defender, Julián Langevín, asked that the court “recognise the rights of the Qom community,” while the Centre of Legal and Social Studies (CELS) asked the high court to end “abuses of the usurpers of the land.”

A minister from Formosa, the president of National Institute of Indigenous Issues (INAI), and the Rector of the University of Fermosa were also questioned.

The Qom indigenous group, La Primavera, is a tribe of around 5000 people from the impoverished province of Formosa. The community came into the public eye last year after a five-month encampment at the cross section of 9 de Julio and Av. De Mayo, and a seven-day hunger strike.

In the encampment they were demanding basic indigenous rights, after police brutally supressed a roadblock held by the Qom in Formosa. One member of the Qom community and one policeman died during the incident which was over an on going land dispute.

The clash started when the provincial government of Formosa had tried to evict the indigenous tribe in order to build a university on their land. The Qom put a roadblock in protest to the usurpation of land, lasting 4 months. After a judge ordered the tribe members to leave, despite their official right to the land, the police repressed the demonstrators by burning their temporary houses and belongings.

These acts of suppression motivated members of La Primavera to move their plight to the capital and set up the encampment. In May of last year, leader Félix Díaz finally met with officials from the Interior Ministry, the Secretary of Human Rights, and the president of the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism (INADI). The meeting resulted in the construction of a ‘Table of Dialogue’.

Nísio Gomes, a Guaraní chief shot dead by gunmen (Photo courtesy of Survival)

Just days after losing their chief and spiritual leader in a deadly attack, members of the Kaiowa Guaraní tribe entrenched themselves in a makeshift camp on their ancestral territory now used for cattle ranching, vowing to uphold the last words of their lost leader.

“Take care of this land,” the 59-year-old chief Nísio Gomes reportedly said, before being shot multiple times by hooded gunmen and dragged away to a truck.

The Kaiowa, from the Mato Grosso do Sul state in south-eastern Brazil, is just one Latin American tribe that has had its land stripped away on the agricultural frontier. The challenge of protecting native groups is growing as food production escalates across the region.

In Argentina last month, security guards allegedly killed Cristian Ferreyra, 23, a leader in the Lule Vilela indigenous community in the province of Santiago del Estero. The tribe is fighting to keep ancestral land under threat from deforestation for soya farming.

Though not all murders are linked to land disputes, tension arises as farmers and ranchers seek to extend holdings for agricultural production, often contracting private security companies to intimidate indigenous communities that are defending their constitutional right to ancestral land, experts say.

Pushed off their land and frustrated with government inaction, tribes return to occupy what was once exclusively theirs, creating strife within the community and with encroaching businesses.

Evictions from their lands for biofuels and cattle ranching has forced the Guaraní to live on the roadside. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Shenker / Survival International)

Scenes of Conflict

The Kaiowa had been living in spare roadside homes as they waited for Brazil’s Indigenous Affairs Agency, FUNAI, to complete a survey demarcating the land to be returned to the Guaraní by April, 2010, according to Sarah Shenker, a campaigner at Survival International, an NGO dedicated to worldwide tribal rights.

After FUNAI failed to finish the survey, several Kaiowa returned to their land in early November, where they were met with threats from ranchers now on the territory.

According to eyewitnesses, on 18th November, some 40 armed men burst into the Kaiowa camp, surrounded Gomez, and shot him in front of his community. Two adolescents and a boy were also reported missing after the raid. FUNAI and federal police are investigating the incident.

The Guaraní, with a population of roughly 46,000 in Brazil, are under constant threat in the Mato Grosso do Sul state. A traditionally nomadic tribe, they are forced to live in relative confinement, experience a high suicide rate, and are malnourished, according to Schenker.

Brazil’s minister of human rights, Maria do Rosário, called Mato Grosso do Sul “one of the worst scenes of conflict between indigenous people and ranchers in the country”, and pledged material support for the communities.

Meanwhile, provincial authorities in Argentina have taken five men into custody, including the soya businessman José Ciccioli, in connection with the death of Cristian Ferreyra. Ciccioli allegedly hired three other men to carry out the crime.

The territory in Santiago del Estero is being deforested as soya farming balloons across the province: In 1995, soya cultivation in the province was a mere 94,000 hectares. Today the number is over 1.1m, according to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture.

“Indigenous land is rich in natural resources, for agriculture but also for mining,” says Mariela Flores, a consultant with Argentina’s Secretariat for Human Rights and a representative of the Diaguita community in Tucumán.

Protest march against the death of Cristian Ferreyra organized by MOCASE, Movimiento Evita, Partido Obrero, Frente Darío Santillán and Quebracho

Land Pressures

Just as some communities are beginning to gain political recognition and reclaim territory, new agricultural production and land prices are soaring, making conflicts more intense, she says.

But the recent attacks are not new or isolated incidents. Hundreds of ongoing clashes and the prospect of ramped up agricultural production to meet booming global food demand likely means continued pressure on indigenous groups in Latin America.

Worldwide cultivable land is expected to expand by 5% – or 70m hectares – by 2050. Production will decline in developed countries and expand greatly in developing countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization.

In addition, new technology has had an undeniable effect on the outward expansion of farmland. The conversion of Brazil’s Cerrado region – a once unproductive savannah slightly bigger than Mexico – and the use of transgenic crops and precision agronomy have allowed planting in areas not previously thought possible.

And while the new contours of the global economy put pressures on land, political powers often do little to relieve them.

The recognition of indigenous territory requires an agreement between the communal, provincial, and national authorities, says Flores, “which is complicated, because provincial governments tend to be feudal, favouring business interests and providing little representation for native communities.”

The constitutions of both Brazil and Argentina, as well as international statutes from the United Nations and the International Labour Organization, affirm the right of indigenous tribes to their native soil.

QOM camping on 9 de Julio and Av de Mayo protesting their treatment (Photo: Jessie Akin)

However, many tribes, such as the Qom de La Primavera, from the northern Argentine province of Formosa, continue to wait for action from the federal government. Last year, the Qom drew attention by camping at 9 de Julio and Avenida de Mayo – one of the busiest intersections in Buenos Aires – in protest at land usurpations and police repression in their province.

They eventually reached an agreement for access to health care and potable water. But threats against the tribe continue. The son and grandson of Felix Díaz, the Qom’s leader, were shot at last month while walking through their territory. No one was injured.

Cane Cutters

In Mato Grosso do Sul, sugarcane plantations are spreading to meet demand for ethanol-based fuels. The state’s governor, André Puccinelli, claimed in 2008 that “Mato Grosso do Sul will be the biggest producer of ethanol in seven years’ time”.

In 2008, there were 50 new ethanol projects seeking funding in the state, which would occupy roughly 800,000 hectares in coming years, according a report by Survival International.

Guaraní man harvesting cane (Photo courtesy of João Ripper / Survival International)

Many Guaraní end up doing the gruelling work of sugarcane cutters, with a work-life expectancy of just 15 years, according to the report.

“The completion of the survey and land recognition is paramount,” says Egon Heck in a telephone interview from Mato Grosso do Sul. Heck is a coordinator for the Indigenous Pastoral Council (CIMI) in Brazil, a group tied to the Catholic Church in defence of indigenous rights.

The government has been postponing the survey “for decades”, and has received strong opposition from agribusiness groups, he claims, leading to the desperate situation that tribes like the Kaiowa find themselves in.

Similarly, Argentina’s land survey, signed into law in 2006 and to be completed by 2010, was postponed until 2013.

“The killing of Nisio Gomes had surprising repercussions,” says Heck, noting that international media is starting to pay attention. “So hopefully we can raise awareness of the circumstances facing indigenous tribes, and those responsible for violence won’t be met with impunity.”