SAO PAULO (Reuters) – A man from the Guarani community was shot dead in Brazil on Wednesday morning, a government agency for indigenous communities said, as a dispute over land escalated in the farming state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
It comes after a violent clash in early August in which armed men, backed by farmers in trucks and tractors, attacked indigenous people and reclaimed land in the vast agricultural state, wounding 11 of them.
The man was shot in the head on Wednesday morning, said Funai, an indigenous affairs agency. The dispute concerns the indigenous land of Nhanderu Marangatu, located in Mato Grosso do Sul, on the border with neighboring Paraguay.
Terras Indigenas, a database run by a nonprofit environmental and indigenous rights organization in Brazil, shows that the country of about 9,000 hectares has a population of about 1,350 and is recognized as indigenous territory.
Funai said it had asked the specialized federal prosecutor’s office to take all applicable legal measures and had met with the judge responsible for the case.
“(We are) committed to ensuring that this violence stops immediately and that those responsible for these crimes are severely punished,” the report said in a statement.
“Given the seriousness of this case, Funai is preparing new steps before the Federal Regional Court of the Third Region to ensure the protection of the indigenous community,” it added.
Ranchers hope to clear land to plant soybeans for export or raise cattle to produce beef. As Brazil’s agricultural frontier moves toward the Amazon (NASDAQ:), disputes over land claimed by indigenous people have multiplied.
Violent land disputes have also become increasingly common and have fueled an ongoing debate over the movement to limit indigenous claims to ancestral lands in a conservative Congress backed by a powerful farming lobby.
Lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the constitution that would introduce a cap on land claims by indigenous communities made after 1988, even though the Supreme Court has ruled that setting such a time frame was unconstitutional.
Less than half of the country’s 1.6 million indigenous population live on about 13% of the country’s landmass.
