Ancient Amazon Tribe Faces 'Silent Genocide,' Suicide Rates Soar

Currently, the Guarani Indian tribe in Brazil, which is among South America's most ancient tribes, suffers from a genocide due to mercenaries who have been taken by land owners. There is also a spike in suicides, according to the Daily Mail.

The tribe's numbers in Brazil have reduced from 400,000 to just 50,000, says a study published by Conselho Indigenista Missionário. The tribe is reducing even in Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia.

The fight for land started in the 1950s, with the suicide rate among the Guarani Indian tribe shooting up to 34 times the national average. The younger members undertake suicides mostly by hanging.

"The principle reason is their lack of land," said Michael Nolan, a U.S. human rights lawyer. "The Guarani people think their relationship with the universe is broken when they are separated from their land. They feel they are a broken people."

Agrees Tonico Benites, a Guarani ethnologist. "With no land to maintain their ancient cultures, the Guarani-Kaiowá feel ashamed and humiliated. Many feel sad, insecure, unstable, scared, hungry and miserable," he said. "They have lost their crops and their hope for a better life. They are exploited and enslaved by sugar cane production for alcohol. These conditions of despair and misery cause the epidemic of violence and suicide among the young."

As Coca-Cola is one of the main sponsors of the Brazil World Cup, it has been charged to play a major role in the landgrabbing scandal leading to the "silent genocide."

"We ask Coca-Cola to consider our suffering," the Guarani tribe wrote in a letter to the company. "We want Coca-Cola to stand beside us and feel our pain and suffering, because the sugar cane is destroying any hope of a future for our children. We ask Coca-Cola to stop buying sugar from Bunge," according to HNGN.