Guarani-Kaiowás (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɡwaɾaˈɲi kajjuˈwa]) are an indigenous people of Paraguay, the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul and northeastern Argentina.
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 Mato Grosso do Sul, in Central-West Region, Brazil.
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.
The conflict of interest between Brazilian authorities and indigenous tribes has increased since the South American 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, Mato Grosso do Sul, at the border with Paraguay, after an eviction order had been issued by a federal judge, declared they were ready to accept their extinction.
We ask them, once and for all, to decree our total decimation and extinction, besides sending many tractors to dig a large hole to drop and bury our bodies.
Given that we fully decided it and won't leave this place dead or alive.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.
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 unit left the territory without taking any action, as they never had the embargo and demolition judicial order.
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.