Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
leaders. But rather than travel to Sangradouro in person, the president chose to send
one of his assistants to the meeting, a move that infuriated the Xavante community.
Details of the meeting are described ahead in the narrative and drawings offered by
the Xavante youth. One important thing we learned immediately: Whenever people
push for human rights, there is backlash right away.
The Principles and Language of Human Rights in Xavante Thought and Daily Life
On that early morning of January 2003 mentioned at the very start of this chapter,
when the children illustrated the Flowers and Fruits report, two young Xavante men
took a leading role in explaining to us Joaquin's murder by the son of the local mega
soybean farmer. The two young men reported hearing that while hunting on traditional
Xavante territory now owned by Ernesto Ruaru, Joaquim was stabbed in the back and
shot in the forehead. His body was chopped into pieces and hidden in an old sewage
pipe. Ruaru is one of the largest soybean plantation owners in the region. Known as
“o rei da soja,” the soybean king holds the title to lands now known as Fazenda Rica
II - literally Rich Farm II, where Joaquim was executed, as well as Fazenda Rica I and
other farmlands in the state of Mato Grosso. As discussed throughout this topic, land
tenure and environmental rights are at the core of Indigenous Peoples' struggles in
Brazil, South and North America, and widespread across the planet.
Joaquim's execution was a cold-blooded murder, planned out to diminish the
spirit of Xavante liberation from the tight grip of the Catholic Church, and the mega-
Figure 6.8. Xavante children sing and dance before school at the Idzô'uhu Village, T. I.
Sangradouro, 2003.
