| Regions with significant populations |
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| Brazil |
Guarani-Kaiowás are an indigenous people of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. They inhabit Nhande Ru Marangatu, an area of tropical rainforest. This was declared a reservation in October 2004. Marcos Verón, a leader of this people was beaten to death a year ago (2003).
They are one of the three Guaraní sub-groups (the others are Ñandeva and Mbya).
They live in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. It is estimated that more than 30,000 Guarani Indians live in Brazil, and in Paraguay where they number 40,000. Guarani alongside Spanish is the official language.
The Guarani 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 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.
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The Guarani-Kaiowá had no contact with the European settlers before the late 1800s. Today their land is stolen by loggers and miners, and FUNAI, which is supposed to help indigenous peoples in Brazil, did little to help the Guarani. The Guarani are forced to leave their land and seek work on plantations, where they work as underpaid labourers. The Guarani of Mato Grosso do Sul are desperately campaigning to protect their land which is crucial for their survival.
Over the decades hundreds of Guarani-Kaiowá natives, even youths as young as 9 years old, have died. Land is crucial for survival, and to take their land is a big crime against Guarani society. Sorts of things like this have happened (after America's discovery in hands of Portugal and Spain) to the various tribes of south America, where the common background is the exploitation of their lands, and cases of mass murder and slavery in the mines (see Minas Gerais or Potosí).
"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).