Imminent conflict in Paraná, Brazil
Featured image: indigenous peasants retake lands in latifundium. Source: Rubens Paula/RPC
We hereby share an unofficial translation of an article published by A Nova Democracia.
Paraná: Imminent agrarian conflict between big landlords and Kaingang indigenous people in Aldeia Serrinha
Indigenous peasants of the reclamation of Fazenda Tamarana, now known as Aldeia Serrinha and part of the Apucaraninha Indigenous Land (TI), are facing invasions by big landlords in collusion with the Courts of Paraná. An eviction order scheduled for February 21 was issued in favor of a local big landlord, but it has been contested by the defense of the Kaingang people. However, the local big landlord insists on planting on indigenous lands even while the case is still under dispute. The village is home for around 300 Kaingang families.
The retaken of Fazenda Tamarana dates back to September 2023, but it is just the latest in a long series of struggles that started on 1995, when the Government of Paraná recognized 6,300 hectares as Kaingang territory. However, the peasants never had access to the lands.
The first major occupation took place in 2017, when around 200 Kaingang pesants retook the headquarters of Fazenda Tamarana, located within the Indigenous Land (TI), and advocated for the production of a report by FUNAI, which reaffirmed the indigenous people’s right to the land. The Kaingang leaved the property under the promise that they would receive part of the land, which never happened. In June 2023, tired of waiting, the indigenous people blocked the highway PR-445 with a burning barricade in protest against the Temporary Framework, and in September, they carried out the latest retaken of Fazenda Tamarana, where they continue to live and which now is known as Aldeia Serrinha.
In February of this year, the Courts of Paraná issued a favorable ruling for the eviction of the land by the big landlord, ignoring the multiple confirmations issued by the Federal Government that the territory belongs to the Kaingang. The defense of the indigenous people contested the process, but the big landlord of Tamarana, Eucler Alcântara Ferreira, intends to carry out planting activities within the TI.
Connections of the local big landlord
According to the Rural Society of Paraná, an entity representing big landlords, Eucler Ferreira traveled to Brasília on February 18 to seek assistance from the Parliamentary Front of Agriculture (FPA). The invitation was extended by deputies Pedro Lupion (PR) and Alceu Moreira (RS), with this last one being the president of the Ulysses Guimarães Foundation and the Mixed Parliamentary Front for Biodiesel, while the former is the president of the FPA itself and responsible for institutional relations of the paramilitary group Invasão Zero, which is responsible for several murders of peasants and other crimes against the Brazilian people.
