Peasants defeat big landlords criminal attack on Barro Branco, Brazil
According to reports, goons recently harassed and threatened the peasants of the Barro Branco camp in Pernambuco. The peasants defeated the goons, thus once more the peasantry prevails over the latifundium.
We share an unofficial translation of an article by A Nova Democracia:
On the morning of December 28, five goons armed with revolvers, pistols and shotguns stopped several peasants from Barro Branco on their way to the Jaqueira market. The gunmen, who had their faces covered with balaclavas and were driving a black Toyota Hilux SUV with no license plate, tried to pass themselves off as federal police officers in order to carry out numerous illegal blitzes, searches, threats and intimidation. The car used had already been photographed before, and had the license plate KGS6E91 before it was removed.
According to denounces from residents, the five goons asked about the location of specific residents, whom they called bandits, and threatened to arrest them. In addition, they tore down banners made by the squatters, threatened to beat up and imprison the peasants taken capitve and promised to invade the Menino Jonatas Camp if there was a reaction to their attacks.
The struggling peasants, ready for any attempt to attack them, closed the entrance to the headquarters of the Barro Branco plantation and stood tall, shouting slogans about the struggle for land and letting off firecrackers. Demoralized and frightened by the squatters’ reaction, the goons were forced to leave Barro Branco. Over the last few weeks, the same vehicle has approached peasants traveling to work on the region’s roads. The goons show their weapons and made empty threats while asking for peasants who are taking part in the struggle for land in Jaqueira.
While the criminal raids took place, the Military Police, who are camped out at the Nossa Senhora de Fátima Municipal School, about 100 meters from where the gunmen were spotted, did nothing. Quite the opposite: according to a report, the police were hiding, in shorts and shirtless, inside the school. “If these bums from the Military Police don’t do anything about the goons who threaten us, what are they doing camped out in Barro Branco? They’re watching us to give information to Guilherme Maranhão! They’re on the side of the gunmen, never the people,” said one resident.
The peasants in struggle also denounced that the goons circulating with guns in Barro Branco are already known “employees” of the Mata Sul Agricultural Company, who have been harassing the population for a long time. Among them are Alison Manoel Silva, from Guerra, Marivaldo from Rampa, the watchmen Dedé and Cazuza. The people will not forget the names of those who attack them so cowardly.
The recent attack on the struggle for land in Barro Branco is not the first and definitely will not be the last. The humiliating defeat of the latifundium on September 28, the creation of the Camp Menino Jonatas to defend and recover the peasant possessions and the Public Audience celebrated on December 9 exposed the reaction of latifundium and once more put the Agrarian Revolution at line of battle against far right, scared by the peasant masses under the flag of the LCP. The peasants promise to continue the struggle until they conquered all the lands of the Engenho without being intimidated by the goons and they will not lower the guard before those attacks!
