Indigenous people from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uraguay gathered on February 7 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the death of Sepe Tiaraju, a Guarani leader who led the fight against Spanish and Portuguese colonization. Prensa Latina reports that more than 5,000 Indians marched from Sao Gabriel to Sanga da Bica, the site where Tiaraju was killed, in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. There they held ritual dances and children sang songs in their native language as the tribes dedicated the cornerstone for a future monument to Tiaraju and his comrades. The march also served to close the Continental Assembly of the Guarani, which was held in Sao Gabriel from February 3–7. During the Assembly, nearly 1,000 indigenous delegates from the five countries, including Guarani, Kaingang, Truka, Xukuru, and Pankaruru peoples, among other Indian groups, discussed the need to pressure their governments to demarcate their ancestral lands.
