SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
10 October 2008
Paraguay: Sat Photos Reveal Uncontacted Tribe's Land Being Destroyed
New satellite photos reveal that the territory of Paraguay's only remaining uncontacted Indians is rapidly being
destroyed.
The photos show that, in the last six months alone, huge new areas of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode's land have been
devastated. The Totobiegosode are the only uncontacted Indians in South America outside the Amazon.
The Totobiegosode's forest is being bulldozed by Brazilian companies who want it to graze cattle. This is despite a
legal claim for the land made on behalf of the Indians in 1993, and legal injunctions banning any clearing of the forest
until these land claims are resolved.
The activities of the companies have been met with outrage by local support organisation GAT. 'This is the uncontacted
Totobiegosode's traditional land. The destruction of the forest is happening despite national laws and international
agreements,' a GAT statement says.
The Totobiegosode live in semi-tropical forest known as 'the Chaco'. The number of uncontacted Indians, who are
exceedingly vulnerable to any form of contact with outsiders, is not known.
Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, 'If these companies think they can get away with this because it's
happening in one of the world's remotest places, they should think again. These satellite photos show in graphic detail
how they are illegally destroying the Totobiegosode's forest, flagrantly violating national and internationῡl law.
Paraguay's new government must get a grip on this before the forest is completely destroyed and the Indians are wiped
out.'
To see the latest satellite photos visit
http://www.survival-international.org/lib/img/gallery/User_Galleries/ayoreo_deforest/ayoreo2.jpg
To see the satellite photos taken earlier this year visit http://www.survival-international.org/lib/img/gallery/User_Galleries/ayoreo_deforest/ayoreo1.jpg
Survival researcher Jonathan Mazower, who has recently visited some of the contacted Totobiegosode, is available for
interview.
To read more about the Ayoreo visit http://www.survival-international.org/tribes/ayoreo
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