Cultural Survival calls for solidarity with the Yvy Pyte community of the Paĩ Tavyterã Indigenous Peoples in the department of Amambay, Paraguay, who have been threatened and attacked by illegal invaders in their territories since 2021.
As an organization that promotes the rights of Indigenous Peoples around the world, Cultural Survival respects and supports Indigenous Peoples being the administrators and caretakers of their territories according to their own cosmovisions. Indigenous Peoples often face threats to their physical, psychological and social integrity as a result of exercising this right, as is currently happening with the Yvy Pyte Indigenous community of the Paĩ Tavyterã People. Since 2021, they have been attacked by armed strangers who come to Yvy Pyte, a place of great importance for the Paĩ Tavyterã for being one of the last remaining tekoha guasu (association among several communities in the same territory) in the region, as well as for the fundamental close relationship this community has with the Paĩ Tavyterã People’s place of origin, Jasuka Venda. Given this serious situation, Cultural Survival declares:
- That, since time immemorial, the Paĩ Tavyterã People have taken care of their territories and have protected the area known as Jasuka Venda with the sole aim of preserving it as a sacred place with cultural value and, moreover, which holds important biodiversity including many species of trees, animals, and other resources.
- That, since the beginning of 2021, Cultural Survival has been following the serious situation the Paĩ Tavyterã face due to the invasion and deforestation of their territory, which worsened in October 2022 when two community leaders, Alcides Morilla Romero and Rodrigo Gómez González, were assassinated during a confrontation between Paraguayan state security forces and the EPP (Paraguayan People's Army), a non-state armed group.
- That, of the 550 families comprising Yvy Pyte, 64 families–including children and elderly people–are being directly affected as victims of attacks including forced displacement, partial or total destruction of Yvy Pyte’s gateway and boundaries, building of houses and boundaries by outsiders in their land, and attacks against community members’ houses, putting at risk their ability to remain in the land they have inhabited since time immemorial.
- That, on July 31, 2023, the Yvy Pyte community suffered an attack in which unknown individuals invaded and fenced part of the land of the Paĩ Tavyterã People. Invaders also fired shots into the air to threaten the community. Since then, other invasion attempts have followed.
- That the community has filed the appropriate official complaints, so far receiving no favorable answer from the responsible authorities.
Cultural Survival calls on the international community for solidarity with the Paĩ Tavyterã People to support them in defending and protecting their land against the abuses they are suffering. Moreover, we condemn any type of violence against the Paĩ Tavyterã families as it represents a total disrespect to their Indigenous and human rights.
Likewise, we call on the relevant authorities in Paraguay, especially the Paraguayan Indigenous Institute (INDI), the Prosecutor's Office, and the police, to take action to stop the attacks, which are conflicts totally unrelated to the Paĩ Tavyterã People but which ironically affect them the most, putting their lives in danger and threatening their culture as Indigenous Peoples.
Photos by Christian Kent, Ary Ojasojavo - Grupo de Estudio Ancestrales.
