Paraguay: The Case of the Ayoreo. IWGIA Report 4

This IWGIA Report documents the injustices experienced by the indigenous Ayoreo people in Paraguay, who have lost much of their ancestral lands to ranching, illegal sale of land and extractive industries - a development that threatens the physical and cultural survival of the groups of Ayoreos still living in voluntary isolation. This publication is aimed at demarcating the territory of the Ayoreo people by blending two editorial approaches: on the one hand, that of objective data, measurements and diagnostics by Western experts; and on the other, the voices of the Ayoreo people themselves, who are asserting their right to the preservation of their culture and ownership of their land, and who are demanding political self-determination, a corollary to and fundamental pillar of those basic rights. This text is an urgent wakeup call. If the legislation is not made known and if the seizure of the Ayoreo territories and the destruction of their physical and symbolic habitat is not immediately stopped, then in a short time, we will have lost not only the complex richness of the environment but also the strength of a vibrant and resisting culture.