Ranchers caught red-handed – from space

Wealthy landowners in Paraguay have been caught red-handed after newly-released satellite images showed their startling destruction of almost 4,000 hectares of forest – which is inhabited by uncontacted Indians. The Brazilian-owned companies, River Plate S.A. and BBC S.A, were busted in a secret operation by state and indigenous authorities in the Chaco region of northern Paraguay. The majority of the Indians’ ancestral land has been taken over by private landowners for cattle ranching. Now settled members of the tribe fear for the lives of their uncontacted relatives. Survival’s director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘These ranchers, much like the Totobiegosode, have nowhere left to hide. Satellite imagery makes it almost impossible for widespread deforestation to go unnoticed, but authorities must act before this happens, not after the forests have already been torn down.’...more