Brazil: almost 500 peasant families take over two latifundia in Bahia
We hereby publish an unofficial translation of an article published by A Nova Democracia.
Almost 500 peasant families took over two latifundia in the interior of Bahia on 25th of July. In one of the occupations participated 230 families on the Alcobaça latifundium, between the municipalities of Lafaiete Coutinho and Maracá, while more than 250 families participated in the other to occupy the big farm Boa União.
The families are supported by the Landless Rural Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra – MST). The group states that the land was unproductive and demands that it must used for agrarian reform. The Boa União latifundium has 871 hectares.
Bahia has been an important area in the struggle for land in Brazil. During the so-called Abril Vermelho (Red April), MST families carried out occupations and demonstrations in the state to demand land for the agrarian reform.
In the south of the state, families supported by the Poor Peasants’ League (LCP) live and produce since ten months in the self-demarcated parcels of Camp Mãe Bernadete, in Carinhanha, built on abandoned lands by the Calsete mining company. They face threats and destruction from goons, but they took a clear stance to remain in the camp.