A Guarani Indian was stabbed to death in western Brazil in an attack blamed on cattle ranchers, an indigenous advocacy group said Friday.

Teodoro Ricardi, 25, was left fatally injured, and died at the side of a road in the central western state of Mato Grosso do Sul on Tuesday, according to Survival International, which said he had been stabbed seven times and his body was covered with bruises.

The incident marked the latest violence linked to land disputes in Brazil, where one percent of the population controls 46 percent of the cultivated land.

The latest victim was killed near a ranch on the Guarani's ancestral land, which has been disputed since natives reoccupied part of the land in 2010, according to the group.

A Guarani from the nearby Y'poi community told Survival, "We are being persecuted. We are treated like animals, killed and thrown on the streets."

The group said the Guarani are trying to recover a small portion of their original territories, but face violent resistance from wealthy ranchers and soya and sugar cane plantation owners.

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