Guarani spiritual leader Estela Vera is murdered in Mato Grosso do Sul

The nhandesy, Guarani-Kaiowá spiritual leader and healer, Estela Vera, was murdered in the Ivy Katu Land, a traditional territory retaken between 2003 and 2015 by the indigenous, in the municipality of Japorã, in Mato Grosso do Sul, on November 15. According to the kuñangue Aty Guasu, Assembly of Kaiowá and Guarani Women, the assassins shot Vera and children with large caliber firearms. The entity denounces that ranchers and tenants have been putting pressure against the territory and threatening another leader, Leila de Ivy Katu.

Indigenous organizations are demanding the federalization of the investigation and protection for the territory and the leaders who have received death threats. The execution of the religious leader is also part of a context of religious violence, with burning of prayer houses in indigenous territories in the state.