Barbarity: Young Guarani man beheaded next to a letter threatening the indigenous community.

247 - A 21-year-old Avá Guarani indigenous youth was murdered and decapitated last Saturday (12), in the municipality of Guaíra, in western Paraná. Next to the body of Everton Lopes Rodrigues was a letter with threats to indigenous communities fighting for the recovery of their territories in the region.

The text, signed by “Bonde 06 do NCSO”, referred to the indigenous people as Paraguayans and accused them of having ties to the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) criminal faction. The letter states that they are willing to “eliminate anyone who crosses our path”.

“If you do not vacate the newly invaded lands, we will kill more of you, we will invade existing villages, we will attack buses with your children inside, we will burn you alive. This is not an empty threat, but one filled with hatred,” states a passage from the document.

In an interview with Brazil of FactIndigenous people and activists from western Paraná stated that they had never heard of a faction called 'Bonde 06 do NCSO'.

This was the second decapitation of an Avá Guarani this year. On March 22, Marcelo Ortiz, 33, was found dead with his head severed from his body on a rural road in Guaíra.

The day after the murder, the Federal Police arrested three indigenous people suspected of committing the crime. According to the investigation, the cause was "a serious disagreement," ruling out any connection to land conflict.

Worrying scenario

At least 208 indigenous people were murdered in Brazil throughout 2023. The data is included in the report Violence Against Indigenous Peoples, which the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi) released on Monday afternoon (22).

This is the second worst result recorded since 2014, when the council, linked to the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), began using official data to count homicides of indigenous people. The methodology does not take into account the 17 homicides that the authors of the document classified as culpable, that is, unintentional.

The number of murders last year is second only to that recorded in 2020, when 216 indigenous people died violently – at first, the council reported that 182 indigenous people had been killed that year, but the information was later corrected.

Statistics indicate that the 208 murders in 2023 represent an increase of approximately 15,5% compared to the 180 recorded in the previous year (according to information released by Agência Brasil).