Mr. Chami has a very different understanding of the conflict. "For 50 years there were no Indians here – these days they're trying to steal everything," he says. The government encouraged settlement of the land in the 1930s, he says, and his father-in-law's family bought the farm in 1970. There were no Indigenous people around, he says. He believes that NGOs, particularly international ones, are stirring up this conflict, and bringing Indigenous people from Paraguay to the area to make fictitious land claims. (The U.K.-based group Survival International has an awareness campaign on attacks on the Guarani-Kaiowa.)

What frustrates him most of all is that the occupied land is not, from his perspective, in use. "They take our land and it's not productive: What's the point of their land – they produce nothing. Not even cassava to eat – the government has to give them everything. They're just producing children – now there are 200. Soon there will be 300, and then 400 – where's it going to end?"

frustrates him most of all is that the occupied land is not, from his perspective, in use. "They take our land and it's not productive: What's the point of their land – they produce nothing. Not even cassava to eat – the government has to give them everything. They're just producing children – now there are 200. Soon there will be 300, and then 400 – where's it going to end?"

The Maganha farm has never employed Indigenous workers – Mr. Chami says they "have no interest" in working. This view is widely shared in the agricultural industry in the state. Indigenous people live on reserves surrounded by farms that in most cases refuse to hire them; the stereotype of "lazy Indian" is so entrenched here that the words are often spoken as one. Consequently there is near-total Indigenous unemployment.