Brazil – Pernambuco: peasants protest against power cuts and lack of water

Featured image: peasant demonstration. Source: AND

Hundreds of peasants demonstrated in the border between the states of Pernambuco and Bahia, where 25,000 peasant families live since the 90’s. The vast majority of peasants who live there, are small owners. According to A Nova Democracia (AND) the peasants protested the power cuts and the lack of water in the region, supposedly due to “a delay in the payments by Codevasf, a public company, to Neoenergia, a private company who supplies the power in Pernambuco”.

During the protest the peasants blocked the bridge which connects the states of Pernambuco and Bahia. They marched to the Codevasf’s headquarters and occupied the building. The peasants waved banners which read “The water is the blood of the peasant and without it , he cannot live”.

AND highlights that the interior of Pernambuco and Bahia is a territory constantly invaded by the latifundium, which profits from the mega-projects and from the juridic insecurity which the peasants are facing.

It is well known that Codevasf has enough economical resources to pay the debt with Neoenergia, and thus, stop the power cuts. But AND points out that the debt has as an intention “to difficult the life and work of the peasants who live in the region”. Codevasf maintains the same leaders since they were appointed by Bolsonaro, making clear once more, that Luiz Inácio and the PT do not work at all for the Brazilian peasantry.