Juliana Cézar Nunes
Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – Judicial countermeasures have created a serious situation that could become a tragedy involving Indians and land disputes in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. In March of this year, a court order demarcated an area of 9,300 hectares and set it aside as a Guarani-Kaiowá reserve. In December the Supreme Court overturned that decision, but is scheduled to reexamine the case after a summer recess in February.

February is far in the distant future for a group of Guarani-Kaiowá Indians who have been camped out on a roadside between the municipalities of Bela Vista and Antônio João, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul after being evicted from the area eighteen days ago. The number of Indians abandoned on the highway after they were forcedly removed by the police has varied (it was once 900; now it is reported that there are only 400 remaining). but one thing has not changed: the Indians are adamant about reclaiming the area which they call Nhande Ru Maangatu.

"There is no way we will accept any decision that separates us from our land," said the Guarani- Kaiowá leader, Isaias Sanches Martins.

Meanwhile, the state representative of the National Indian Foundation (Funai), Odenir Oliveira, says the situation on the highway is precarious and it is possible that Indians, especially children, may start dying soon if they do not receive medical assistance. Oliveira says the Indians know very well that if they leave the area their cause will lose momentum and the may lose whatever chance the have of reclaiming their land.

Translation: Allen Bennett