By  Shandra P. Sullivan

Since the early 20th century, national and international movements in capital and ideas have contributed to the radical transformation of the Brazilian countryside. In Mato Grosso do Sul, the Kaiowá-Guarani have been gradually crowded onto reservations (through often violent, extralegal means) due to deforestation for cattle ranches and soy plantations. Since the 1970s, land despoliation has intensified with the ongoing expansion of privately owned sugarcane plantations for ethanol fuel production. Kaiowá land activists argue that displacement has given rise to problems like starvation and high crime rates. Today, protests for land return and occupation of plantations by Kaiowá result in sometimes violent counter-mobilization by plantation owners.