Struggle by indigenous to regain land in Brazil is deadly serious

Published: 2007-08-09

DOURADOS, Brazil (CNS) -- In Brazil, the struggle by indigenous people to regain their right to the land once inhabited by their ancestors is deadly serious. Ortiz Lopes, a member of the Guarani Kaiowa indigenous group who was murdered by a gunman July 8, was the 20th Guarani leader killed so far this year in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, according to the Catholic Church's Indigenous Missionary Council, known by its Portuguese acronym as CIMI. Church workers who defend indigenous land rights also are targeted. Bishop Erwin Krautler of Xingu, president of CIMI and a staunch defender of indigenous communities, rubber tappers and Afro-Brazilian communities known as "quilombos," has been under 24-hour police protection since late last year after a message was posted on a Web site saying he would not live past Dec. 29. CIMI recently denounced similar threats against Bishop Manoel Francisco of Chapeco, in southern Brazil, when an effigy was strung up with a sign warning that the bishop would hang "like Judas."

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