The Guarani-Kaiowás () are an indigenous people of

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, the

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian state of

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul ( ) is one of Federative units of Brazil, Brazil's 27 federal units, located in the southern part of the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West Region, bordering five Brazilian states: Mato Grosso (to the north), Goiás and ...

and northeastern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. In

, they inhabit Ñande Ru Marangatu, an area of tropical

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

. This was declared a reservation in October 2004. Marcos Verón, a leader of this people was beaten to death in January 2003. They are one of the three

Guaraní Guarani, Guaraní or Guarany may refer to Ethnography * Guaraní people, an indigenous people from South America's interior (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia) * Guarani language, or Paraguayan Guarani, an official language of Paraguay * G ...

sub-groups (the others are

Ñandeva Chiripá Guarani (Tsiripá, Txiripá), also known as Ava Guarani and ''Nhandéva'' (''Ñandeva''), is a Guaraní language spoken in Paraguay, Brazil, and also Argentina. Nhandéva is closely connected to Mbyá Guaraní, as intermarriage between ...

and Mbya). They mainly live in the

ian state of

. It is estimated that more than 30,000 Guaranis live in Brazil. In

they number about 40,000. The

Guaraní language Guarani (Avañe'ẽ), also called Paraguayan Guarani, is a language of South America that belongs to the Tupi–Guarani branch of the Tupian language family. It is one of the two official languages of Paraguay (along with Spanish), where i ...

is one of the official languages of Paraguay, alongside the Spanish language.

Name

The Guarani-Kaiowá are also known as the Kaiwá, Caingua, Caiua, Caiwa, Cayua, Kaiova, and Kayova. These spellings were largely devised by Europeans, The National Museum of Brazil (Portuguese: Museu Nacional) keeps records of the earliest Latinized forms for transcribing the name on behalf of the people, coincidentally Kaiowá means exactly this 'the people' - in their own language.

Language

They speak the

Kaiwá language Kaiwá is a Guarani language Guarani (Avañe'ẽ), also called Paraguayan Guarani, is a language of South America that belongs to the Tupi–Guarani branch of the Tupian languages, Tupian language family. It is one of the two official lang ...

, a Tupi-Guarani language, Subgroup I. Literacy is extremely low—from 5% to 10%. Kaiwá is written in the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

Culture

The Guaraní sub-groups have different ways of social organisation, but they share a religion which sees the land as very important. The god Ñande Ru created the Guarani as the first peoples and the Guarani are deeply spiritual, as there's a prayer house in every village and the cacique, shaman, is of great importance in the community. "Terra sem Mal", which means ''land without evil'' is the land of the

dead Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sho ...

people in their mythology, and it is important that every soul can go to Terra sem Mal. When invaders occupied Guarani land, the Guarani feel as if their religion is offended, and when they lose their land to intruders they have too little land to sustain their traditional life, based on fishing, hunting, and farming. Many live in abject poverty in camp sites at the side of busy motorways or in temporary settlements in occupied farmland in the state of

, in Central-West Region, Brazil. They consider this land as their ancestral land. Their lifestyles consist on living happily on their own land, growing small crops to support their livelihood. These villages have schools and Government assistance. Despite the tribe still fights for living in this territory according to their traditions, young generations are starting to getting in contact with new technologies thanks to the work of some NGO’s such as

Our Tribe ''Northern Exposure'' is an American Northern comedy-drama television series about the eccentric residents of a fictional small town in Alaska, that ran on CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its orig ...

. These NGOs offer workshops to teach young tribe members techniques to document their lifestyles.

Survival

The Guarani-Kaiowá had no contact with the European settlers before the late 1800s. Since the beginning of the 1980s, the Guarani-Kaiowá tribe has been gradually forced to leave their traditional settlements as a consequence of the deforestation to get soy, corn and cane plantations. This eviction process has worsened the Guarani-Kaiowá living conditions. Furthermore, the non-secured and underpaid work on plantations has provoked deaths, even of young children, during decades. The attacks this community has received have their root on the high profitability of the lands they inhabit for the growing of agri-businesses and

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from Biomass (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...

industry. For example, the Guarani tribe has denounced for years the permanent threat of expulsion from their lands and the poisoning by farmers of their water resources. The conflict of interest between Brazilian authorities and indigenous tribes has increased since the

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

n country was chosen to harbor the next Football World Cup in 2014. In October 2012, a group of 170 Kaiowás (50 men, 50 women and 70 children) camping for almost a year at the Cambará farm, near the Joguico River in Iguatemi,

, at the border with

, after an eviction order had been issued by a federal judge, declared they were ready to accept their extinction. According to a letter sent to the Conselho Indigenista Missionário (Cimi, Missionary Indian Council) and to the national management of Fundação Nacional do Índio (

Funai is a Japanese consumer electronics company headquartered in Daitō, Osaka. Currently, it is in liquidation. Apart from producing its own branded electronic products, it was also an OEM providing assembled televisions and video players/recor ...

): The federal order detailed that in case the indigenous community does not abandon the land, the Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai) will have to pay 250 dollars per day they still occupy the territory. Parts of the Brazilian press understood the letter as a

mass suicide Mass suicide is a form of suicide, occurring when a group of people simultaneously kill themselves. Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious settings. In war, defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Suicide pacts ...

announcement. The

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issued a petition against their genocide. The decision was suspended by a court order on October 30, 2012. In 2012 the Indian museum in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, around which exists a Guarani-Kaiowá settlement, also received an eviction order. This settlement is next to Maracana football stadium, which in requirements of the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

, has to be expanded for the inauguration and closure ceremonies of the Football World Cup. In October 2012 Rio de Janeiro’s Governor Sergio Cabral said in a press conference that it was necessary to overthrow the old museum. The building was abandoned in 1977 and occupied by indigenous communities since that moment. “It has no historic value and it is going to be demolished because the

and World Cup Organizational Committee demand it” he explained. However, the FIFA clarified through a press note in posterior dates that it never asked for the demolition of the Indian Museum. In the Guarani-Kaiowá and other ethnicities response to that decision was clear. The twelve of January 2012 a police unit arrived at the indigenous land without a judicial order to evict the community and the inhabitants were waiting to them at the beginning of the settlement to defend it. The settlement siege lasted over 12 hours and finished when the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

unit left the territory without taking any action, as they never had the embargo and demolition judicial order. The retirement was applauded by the indigenous community. Despite this temporary victory, the Guarani-Kaiowá tribe is still threatened by more mobilizations that would try to evict them from the unique place they and their ancestral culture are protected.

Notes

References

*"Guaraní Indians", by James Schofield Saeger, in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, Barbara A. Tenenbaum, ed., vol. 3, pp. 112–113. (The article contains numerous additional references).

External links

Amnesty International action file on this areaSurvival International page on the GuaraniAldeia Maracaná
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guarani-Kaiowa Guaraní Indigenous peoples in Brazil Indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco