According to an urgent action bulletin issued by Survival International, five young Guarani Kaiowa Indians attempted to commit suicide, on September 8, in the village of Penambizinho in the state of Mato Grosso de Sul, Brazil. Three Kaiowa died, one is in a coma in hospital and the other has disappeared, after they all drank a poisonous mixture of insecticide and rum. There is fear that this latest suicide will spark a wave of suicide.

The long delay by the court in resolving the conflict between the Kaiowa and the local colonists over land is believed to be responsible for the suicides. Last May three Kaiowas committed suicide. Three hundred Kaiowa Indians are crammed into barely 60 hectares of land, surrounded by electric fences built by the colonists who live around the village. These colonists have employed gunmen to patrol the area and intimidate the Kaiowa. Thirty eight colonist families have settled there since the mid1940s.

In 1995 the minister of justice signed an act recognizing 1240 hectare of Kaiowa land. The colonists, who according to the act, are to be resettled and compensated occupy most of these lands. Despite the acute suffering by the Kaiowa, highlighted by the suicides, the federal authorities have not complied with the act: Kaiowa lands are still to be demarcated and the colonists are still to be resettled.

According to Survival International, between 1985 and 1999 there has been 319 suicides among the Guarani and believes the primary cause is lack of land. 200 years ago the Guarani lived in 25 % of the state, now they scarcely occupy 1%.