Brazil: Maranhão – Peasant lands are sprayed with agricultural toxics in Codó and Timbiras

We publish an unofficial translation of the article of A Nova Democracia

Cowardly actions by the latifundium affected peasant crops, through the spraying of agricultural toxins by planes and drones, with images capturing the act.

On April 5, the Solidarity Committee for the Struggle for the Land (COMSOLUTE) denounced, through social media, environmental crimes against communities in the municipalities of Codó and Timbiras. Cowardly actions by the latifundium affected peasant crops, through the spraying of agricultural toxins by planes and drones, with images capturing the act.

The villages of Santa Vitória, São José, Baixa Nova, Morada Nova, Jabuti and Campina, in Timbiras, accuse the Macedo Group of the destruction of productive areas. In Codó, the towns of São Paulo, Axixá, Poraquê, Santa Joana, Boqueirão dos Vieiras and São Benedito dos Colocados accuse the company FC Oliveira.

In the municipality of Codó, the Saco River was being contaminated, affecting water and fish essential to ensuring the peasants’ food.

Due to criminal actions, bean, corn and rice plantations were completely destroyed, taking away the livelihood of around 150 families, in addition to posing health risks to residents.

This is just one of the recurring cases in the State of using poison as a chemical weapon to try to expel workers from their lands. This and other crimes of the latifundium have been denounced throughout Maranhão as a reflection of the intensification of the struggle for land.