"COLLECTIVE DEATH"

Guarani-Kaiowa poses for photo during Rio +20, the UN conference on sustainable development held in June this year in Rio de Janeiro -
Felipe Dana / AP

Ministerio Público Federal appeals in court against removal of Indians in Mato Grosso do Sul

The National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), through legal attorney, had also joined with appeal on October 10, the same court against the ruling.

The prosecutor asked that the Indians remain in the area until they are completed anthropological studies necessary to verify whether or not the land is owned by the indigenous.

Case was widely publicized after alleged threat of mass suicide. 

In a letter to the Brazilian government and justice, community leaders talk about "collective death" when referring to the possible effects of the decision of the Federal Court. And show that the group has lost hope of surviving "with dignity and without violence" in the area where they claim their ancestors are buried.

"We live on the river Hovy for over a year and are without any assistance, isolated, surrounded by gunmen and resisted until today. We suffer all this to recover our old territory [...]. And we decided not to leave here whether alive nor dead, "narrate the Indians in the letter.

As the prosecutor in Mato Grosso do Sul, there are about 44,000 Guaraní and Kaiowás, confined to an area of ​​just over 30 hectares. For the MPF, the situation of the Indians confinement prevents the reproduction of social, economic and cultural condition aggravated by the precariousness of the occupied areas.