Ranchers seek license to destroy uncontacted tribes’ land

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A Brazilian cattle-ranching company is seeking permission from Paraguay’s government to destroy forest inhabited by one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes.

The company, Yaguarete Pora S.A., has applied to Paraguay’s Environment Ministry for a licence to work in an area where uncontacted Ayoreo-Totobiegosode Indians live. Yaguarete own the land, but its licence to work there was withdrawn last year after the publication of satellite photos showing its destruction of the forest, and pressure from local organisations. Yaguarete also prevented an investigative team from the Environment Ministry from entering the area.

‘The Environment Ministry must not grant a new licence to Yaguarete,’ urged local Totobiegosode support organisation GAT. ‘If it does, the last of the uncontacted Totobiegosode could be wiped out.’

Yaguarete has recently announced its intention to maintain an ‘eco-reserve’ in a small part of the forest it has been destroying – a move denounced by Survival as ‘greenwashing of the most outrageous kind’.

Some Totobiegosode have already been contacted and are claiming legal title to their land. Only a small part of it has been protected so far, and vast areas of the region are being rapidly deforested for cattle ranching.

Survival’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘We urge Paraguay’s government not to allow Yaguarete to work on the Totobiegosode’s land. To do so would violate their rights under international law and the UN’s Declaration on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, and may well destroy them as a people.’

For more information please contact Miriam Ross at Survival International on (44) (0)20 7687 8734 or (44) (0)7504 543 367 or email [email protected]