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Native Brazil neighborhood remains on flooded land in dispute with designer

Stranded for nearly 3 weeks by record flooding in southern Brazil, one small Indigenous community is determined not to leave what they think about sacred ancestral lands that are in dispute with real estate developers.

The Mbya Guarani people have been living since 2018 on a. peninsula in far southern Porto Alegre, the state capital of Rio. Grande do Sul.

The neighborhood has actually long been at odds with Arado. Empreendimentos Imobiliarios, the firm that has actually been planning a. residential advancement on nearly 426 hectares (1,053 acres) in. the area for over a years, part of which is in conflict.

Heavy rains have damaged Rio Grande do Sul because late. April, causing historical floods that have killed over 160 people,. while almost 100 citizens are still missing out on and more than. 500,000 have actually been displaced.

Even with the devastating floods, community leaders state they. would rule out leaving.

After this flood dries up I'm going to go even more over. there, chieftan Timoteo de Oliveira Karai Mirim, 62, told. , indicating higher ground within the disputed land in. a location called Ponta do Arado.

The entrepreneur will state that we have no right, however I'll. stay. We have actually currently chosen this location and we are not going to. leave, he included.

The Mbya Guarani's presence is safeguarded by federal courts,. which suspended an injunction returning the land to the. designer owners till Brazil's Supreme Court makes a wider. ruling on the separation of Native lands, stated attorneys for. Arado Empreendimentos.

The developer is prepared to take legal action if the. neighborhood attempts to expand by moving to higher ground on the. property.

We have no information that they would move from their. current place, however if they do we will need to take legal. procedures, land owner Iboty Brochmann Ioschpe, associated with. the company, informed .

Kreta Kaingang, planner of nationwide Indigenous. company APIB, said the Mbya Guarani fear that if they move. to a shelter they will never ever be allowed to return.

So they continue to camp in the area, even as the increasing. Guaiba River swallowed a 10-meter strip of sand and ruined. 5 bamboo homes, soaking mattresses, clothing and food. The. muddy waters likewise flooded the roadway that provides land access to. the town.

Seventeen people from four households live in the neighborhood,. with their ducks, chickens and dogs. With a broken boat and no. available roadways, they are depending upon donations to make it through.

Some state they could not leave even if they wanted to.

There is no road to get around and go to the city, and you. can't pass water either, stated Pablo Natalicio de Souza, 37,. nephew of the Mbya Guarani's chieftan. There's no chance to get. out of here.

The Mbya Guarani are the only Indigenous neighborhood still. isolated by the floods, according to APIB.

The catastrophe has impacted 30,000 Native people in Rio. Grande do Sul, according to a price quote from Brazil's Ministry. of Indigenous Peoples.

In 2015, Brazil's National Indigenous People Structure. started research studies in the location, the initial step to figure out. demarcation of Native areas.

(source: Reuters)