Brazilian Indians Kidnapped by Ranchers

from Native News Online The community of Guarani leader Lide has been brutally attacked by ranchers’ gunmen. © Survival International, 2015 PYELITO KUE, BRAZIL—Members of one of Brazil’s most persecuted tribes have been kidnapped by the ranchers who occupy their land, who have also attacked their community and forced women and children to flee. The Guarani Indians of Pyelito Kuê community reoccupied a fraction of their ancestral land two days ago, and have been under attack ever since. One Guarani woman was reportedly raped and beaten up, and is now in hospital. Earlier today gunmen employed by the ranchers attacked the Indians again. Reports indicate several were injured, with many fleeing in panic into a small patch of forest. Around 30 Indians were forced imarcinto the back of a truck and driven away. They were eventually dumped by a roadside. The Indians have endured years of living in overcrowded reserves, on a tiny plot of land trapped between a river and a sea of soya, and in the middle of a eucalyptus plantation. All their lands have been taken over by ranchers, whose gunmen regularly attack the Indians.Communications equipment from Survival’sTribal Voice project, which the Indians had been using to speak to the outside […]