Gerald and Maas Suppressed News 2012 - Brazil:

5.2.12

Gerald and Maas Suppressed News 2012

Brazil: the indigenous peoples are increasingly dispossessed by corporate and private interests. In the Mato Grosso do Sul region Survival: the movement for tribal peoples reports attacks on Guarani Indians. Paralyzed in 2009 during an armed attack on his community, Rosalino Lopes died in December 2011, saying "I am dying for the ancestral land where I was born" (Survival). The government reportedly plans to return land to the Guarani who are living in poverty and intermittently attacked by gunmen working for landholders: the land was cleared by cattle ranchers and plantations of soya and sugar cane as well. A recent report speaks of hit lists targeting Guarani leaders. Marcos Verón, leader of the Guarani-Kaiowá, ejected from his land in 2001 by police and military, was killed in 2003 attempting to return. His son has fled. A chief, Nisio Gomes, was killed in November 2011 by armed men with masks. The Guarani remain without protection. Across the border in Paraguay 95% of the people are considered of Guarani ancestry. A minimal Agence France Press filing notes that Brazilian lawmakers have issued a report claiming "ethnocide" on finding that Indians of Mato Grosso do Sul are being destroyed. In the region of Maranhão, an eight year old Guajajara Indian girl was allegedly burnt alive by loggers with no legal action resulting. The Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) states Indians have no protection against loggers and the basic tension is ongoing (There is an ongoing Genocide warning for Brazil's Indian peoples). Environmentalists protesting destruction of the rainforests recognizing the essential genocide in progress, have been murdered, as have poor farmers protesting illegal logging. These are all without adequate protection by government (Previous & previous). The issue is heavily suppressed by all corporate media as Brazil continues the Belo Monte dam project, expected to displace 16 to 40 thousand people, flooding 40 thousand hectares of rainforest, and holding back 80% of the Xingu (Amazon tributary) river. Brazilian court has discarded native peoples' rights in a ruling that denies a right to prior and informed consultation before the dam is built. Partial sources online: "Masked gunmen attack Brazilian Indian leader in shock execution," Nov. 18, 2011, Survival: the movement for tribal peoples; "Brazilian gunmen brandish tribal hit list in wake of leader’s murder," Dec.1, 2011, Survival; "Guarani man dies of gunshot wound following attack," Dec. 15, 2012, Survival; "Further threats as Guarani Indians remember murdered leader," Jan. 24, 2012, Survival; "Murder of Indigenous child provokes reaction," Raphael Tsavvko Garcia, Global Voices, Jan 10, 2012, The Castlgar Source; "Brazil lawmakers say indigenous group 'massacred'," AFP, Dec. 22, 2011, The Straits Times (Singapore); "Amnesty urges Brazil to probe killing, "Nov. 26, 2011, Sky News (Australia); "Indigenous do not have right to free, prior and informed consultation on Amazon dam, rules Brazilian court," Nov. 9, 2011, mongabay.com.