Case History: Semião Fernandes Vilhalva

On 29 August 2015, human rights defender and indigenous leader Semião Fernandes Vilhalva was killed in a land recuperation operation after the Guarani-Kaiowás occupied their ancestral lands in the municipality of Antônio João in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

The territory of Ñande Rú Marangatú was demarcated and approved as indigenous land in 2005, a decision that was suspended in the same year by the Federal Supreme Court after the landowners filed an injunction. Ten years have passed and the Supreme Court has not issued a final decision on the demarcation of the land as indigenous territory.

Following this ten year impasse, in which the Guarani-Kaiowá people remained displaced from what they consider to be their ancestral lands, on 21 August 2015 they occupied farms in the city of Antônio João. In response to this, on 29 August 2015, the farmowners conducted a land recuperation operation with the support of Mato Grosso do Sul's police force. However, it is alleged that the police force used excessive force against the peaceful occupation, and that farmers fired shots at members of the indigenous communities. This violence resulted in the shooting and killing of human rights defender Semião Vilhalva Fernandes. Further, the indigenous community were driven out of two farms (Fronteira and Barra).

Further attacks are being perpetrated against the indigenous communities by landowners in Mato Grosso do Sul. On the day following the killing of Semião Fernandes Vilhalva, another land recuperation operation was carried out with excessive use of force. As well as this violence, indigenous peoples have also been subjected to a smear campaign, in which several media outlets have claimed - including with the publication of fake photos - that members of the indigenous community caused property damage through arson attacks and that they took hostages during the occupation. Both of these claims are untrue.

The killing of Semião Fernandes Vilhalva comes in the context of several acts of violence that have been perpretrated against indigenous peoples in Brazil. Such crimes continue to occur with complete impunity, an example of this being the failure to identify those responsible for the death of indigenous leader Eusebio Ka'apor, who was killed on 26 April 2015.