Many A'uwẽ-Xavante ceremonies – such as wate’a (above), part of the male initiation complex -- revolve around water and ritual activities in water.  Plans for three hydroelectric dams on tributaries to the Rio das Mortes threaten the river basin. Photo by Rosa Gauditano/Studio R.
 

By Laura R. Graham, with collaboration from Edson Krenak Naknanuk
 

By Edson Krenak Naknanuk

The following statement was issued at the conclusion of a meeting of Indigenous representatives from 45 different Brazilian Indigenous Nations. The group convened at the invitation of Raoní Metuktire (Mẽbengokre), also known as Ropni, who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Award. Representatives met from January 14-17, 2020 in the village of Piaraçu in the Capoto Jarina Indigenous Territory.

Nota técnica n. 01/2019, Associação Xavante Warã

In English

Em português.

Associação Xavante Warã (Xavante Warã Association, AXW) released the following statement on November 3, 2019.  Em português

Allegedly criminally set fires have destroyed nearly all of Xavante Indigenous Territory Areões, about 219,000 hectares, in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, according to a report by Globo News, a leading mainstream media source in Brazil. Areões is an Indigenous Territory, home to about 1,500 Xavante who are now facing the catastrophic impacts from the fires.

Enquanto o Brasil se prepara para a posse de Jair Bolsonaro como presidente, nós, as organizações abaixo-assinadas, desejamos expressar nossa profunda preocupação com as posições sustentadas pelo presidente eleito, que representam uma séria ameaça à democracia, aos direitos humanos e ao meio ambiente. Desejamos também reafirmar nosso apoio aos corajosos indivíduos e grupos no Brasil que lutam para defender os direitos e liberdades constitucionalmente protegidos em um ambiente cada vez mais desafiador.

Photo by Marino Mondeck on Flickr

On December 27, 2018, Cultural Survival joins dozens of civil society organizations in denouncing the grave threats to human rights indicated by positions of the Bolsonaro presidency in Brazil.  Below is a statement prepared jointly by those organizations.

By Antonio A R Ioris

“…we know that we are going and we want to be killed and buried with our ancestors here where we are today, so we ask the Government and the Federal Justice not to decree our eviction/expulsion, but we request to decree our collective death and to bury us everybody here. We ask, once and for all, to decree our decimation and total extinction, in addition to sending several tractors to dig a large hole to throw and bury our bodies.”

Letter Guarani-Kaiowá of Pyelito Kue (2012)

Acontece essa semana a 17ª Sessão do Fórum Permanente sobre Questões Indígenas das Nações Unidas em Nova Iorque. Representando o povo A’uwẽ-Xavante por meio da Associação Xavante Wara, o lider Hiparidi Top’tiro teve a oportunidade de informar o Fórum sobre a grave situação vivida pelo seu povo.