Dear Jack,

You may have missed my recent email about the critical situation of the Indigenous Guarani Kaiowá—”forest people”—in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. In case you did, I’ve shared their story of struggle and resistance again below.

You’re a vital part of this fight, Jack. Please stand with Survival International and Indigenous peoples now.

“This land is ours”, Clara tells me. “Brazil is our country and our home.”

Stamping, marching, dancing on the very land she speaks of, Clara’s relatives press their claim into the red earth with every step. They are the “forest people,” the Guarani Kaiowá of Laranjeira Ñanderu, southern Brazil. They stewarded their ancestral territory for generations. But now, they’re facing a devastating humanitarian crisis. The Guarani are fighting for their future. Jack, they urgently need your support.

“We need to tell the world. This genocide against us is happening in silence.”

Spanning the borders of Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia, the Guarani’s forest was once dense and rich in biodiversity. But over the last century, their territory’s been stolen and is now being completely destroyed by cattle ranchers and farmers harvesting sugarcane and soya.

Many Guarani now live in dire poverty on the edges of their land, in overcrowded reservations or under plastic sheets by the roadside. Unable to hunt or grow food, many are starving. Dozens of Guarani people have been hit and killed by the trucks that tear past their camps.

Greedy for money and power—like so many elites in the world today—these ranchers are doing all they can to eliminate the Guarani. They push police to harass and assault the Guarani, and use powerful and corrupt political allies against them. They hire gunmen to patrol the borders of the Guarani’s territory, shooting those who try to return home.

Their killers are rarely brought to justice.

“Death surrounds us twenty-four hours a day. It feels like there’s no way out.”

But the Guarani continue to mount a powerful resistance, reoccupying their territory in “retomadas” and asserting their right to the land that is the core of their cosmology, language, identity, and way of life. Survival International has been supporting the Guarani’s fight since 1996. But Jack, we can’t continue our vital work without you.

Survival rejects funding from governments and from companies that violate Indigenous peoples’ rights, so your support gifts us our independence. It allows us to lobby for the rights of the Guarani and other Indigenous peoples at a national and international level. It enables us to support peoples like the Guarani Kaiowá in their resistance. Jack, will you join the fight for Indigenous lives today?

Thank you,
Sarah Shenker
Director
Survival Brasil