How can I help?
1. Please write a letter to the Minister of Justice of Brazil.
Please download and print out the attached sample letter (Word).
Alternatively you can copy and paste the contents of the letter (see under FAQ). You may have to adjust the colour to ‘black‘.
Your letter can save lives.
FAQ
Yes. In the past such letters have shown repeatedly that governments react positively. Politics were changed and lives saved.
Why should the letter be in your native language?
Letters written in a different language show that people from all over the world care for the indigenous peoples. It impresses. Our experience shows that due to keywords the letters are understood and even answered.
How should I send my letter, fax, e-mail, or through the post office?
Letters sent through the post office show best results. If there is a realistic chance, we sometimes pass on e-mail addresses or fax numbers. But e-mail addresses change and fax machines can be cut off. If possible please use the post office.
What does the sample letter say?
Your name
and address
Dr José Eduardo Cardozo
Ministerio da Justiça
Esplanada dos Ministerios, Bloco T
Brasilia DF 70064-900
Brazil
(date)
Dear Sir,
I am very concerned about the situation of the Guarani people in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul. Most of them have been herded together in small reservations with not enough land, making it impossible for them to take care of themselves. The overcrowded conditions have fatal effects: high suicide rates, consumption of alcohol, violence within the reservations as well as severe malnutrition in the children.
I ask you to initiate immediate steps for the identification and demarcation of the territory the Guarani-Kaiowá are entitled to. The prolonged procrastination in granting them the land they are entitled to endangers their health and welfare. Therefore I fear a continuing deterioration of their situation, which could consequently lead to the complete loss of their land rights.
Yours sincerely,
