Milena Assis
Agência Brasil

Brasília – The president of the National Indian Foundation (Fundação Nacional do Índio) (Funai), Mércio Pereira Gomes, questioned the data in the Report on Violence Against Indigenous Peoples in Brazil (Relatório de Violência Contra os Povos Indígenas no Brasil), which was just recently released by the Indian Missionary Council (Conselho Indigenista Missionário) (Cimi), which is a Catholic church organization. According to Gomes, Cimi violence indexes are higher than the should be. "Cimi based its information on media reports from the interior of Brazil where Indians die for various reasons. They have fights with white people, fights among themselves, automobile accidents and commit suicide. Cimi even counts domestic disputes between husbands and wives," says Gomes.

The Cimi report deals at length with the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. According to the Cimi vice president, Saulo Feitosa, there has been a significant increase in violence involving Indians in that state, mainly in areas near urban centers. And the violence has been mainly sexual abuse and suicides. Feitosa points out that the suicide rate among the Guarani-Kaiowá has risen sharply, especially among young people who see no future for themselves.

Gomes sees the violence in Mato Grosso do Sul from an entirely different perspective. The state is "an area of territorial recovery conflicts," says the Funai president, explaining that since the 1930s the government has been working to return land to the Guarani-Kaiowá. But it is a difficult process, Gomes adds. "Farmers are informed that their land does not belong to them; it belongs to the Indians. But the farmers believe they are the rightful owners. So we have to explain that Indian rights to the land antedate farmer rights. And this results in conflicts. Today the Guarani-Kaiowá have 26 reservation areas, with another six areas in the demarcation process."

Mércio Pereira Gomes admits that the reservation areas are small and that there is intense pressure for space. He says that 35,000 Indians have 150,000 hectares. "It is very difficult to recover land for Indigenous peoples. Many countries do not even try. But in Brazil we are making the effort."

Translation: Allen Bennett