Goons humiliated by peasants in Barro Branco, Brazil

We hereby share an unofficial translation of an article published by A Nova Democracia.

The occupiers of Barro Branco, in the interior of Pernambuco, expelled a group of goons from their lands on March 1. The paramilitaries arrived in SUVs and nearly ran over dozens of peasants.

The peasants had gathered on Saturday afternoon to begin a Popular Assembly when a goon appeared making the first threats.

“The people, who were already mobilized for the assembly, rejected the thug and declared that they would not listen to his threats. The man then returned to the car, and when it seemed he was leaving, he drove the car back toward the crowd and aimed it at the peasants, in a clear attempt at murder,” the occupiers reported on the Instagram page comitedeapoiobarrobranco.

https://www.instagram.com/comitedeapoiobarrobranco/?utm_source=ig_embed

The peasants decided to act in legitimate defense and began to throw sticks and stones at the SUV. The goon reversed and attempted to run over the occupiers once again, but failed in his attempts to commit murder. Other occupiers felt encouraged to react, and in the end, men, women, and the elderly repelled the attack until the goon disappeared from the land.

“This is not the first attack by the goons in the service of Agropecuaria Mata Sul and Usina Frei Caneca this week. On February 26, a goon armed with a 12-gauge shotgun took advantage of a day when the peasants were engaged in an activity outside the Menino Jonatas Camp to enter the camp and threaten other peasants. The cowardly thug held a local resident at gunpoint, stole his cellphone, and threatened to return if the struggle in Barro Branco continue. The peasants were not intimidated, and on the same day, they responded to the attack with a combative protest,” says a statement on the same Instagram page.

“Even on the same day, in the morning, before the conflict with the goon, this same car was seen parked near the fences of the occupiers of Barro Branco to cut their wires,” the note continues.

“These attacks occur amid the growth of the struggle and organization of the peasants in Barro Branco, and they are a desperate response from the most reactionary and anti-people latifundium, parasites of the nation and thieves of lands, who have failed intimidating the people or preventing the struggle of the peasants. On the contrary, these attacks only add fuel to the fire of people’s revolt.”