Some News on the Struggle for Land in Brazil
Herby we share some of the latest news on the struggle for land found in the democratic newspaper A Nova Demcoracia.
Peasant women struggle against latifudium
On March 13, peasant women organized by the women’s collective of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) held protests in João Câmara, Rio Grande do Norte, denouncing the inaction of the government led by Fátima Bezerra in the face of the advance of wind energy monopolies in farming areas.
They staged a protest at the João Câmara III substation, where they painted the walls red and wrote “crime” in protest against the expropriation of approximately 500 farming families. Additionally, around 500 families closed a road intersection to denounce the environmental crimes of large estates and demand the settlement of 100 families in the Baixo Assú region.
Peasants and activists have been criticizing the advances of energy monopolies for years, which involve the expropriation of lands historically owned by families, the noise from wind turbines, the increase in temperature due to deforestation, and the installation of photovoltaic panels, all generating health and production problems.
Government expelled four thousand peasants for dam construction
More than 4,000 riverside peasants were expelled from their homes along the Piranhas River in the Seridó region, Rio Grande do Norte, for the construction of the Oiticica dam, recently inaugurated by Luiz Inácio (PT).
The slow construction of the dam has caused suffering and insecurity to the community of Barra de Santana, forcing peasants to abandon their homes and traditions for over 12 years. A resident expressed her pain over the loss of her home and the impossibility of returning.
Moreover, this is not the only government project that will expel peasant masses from their lands. As reported in a special article by AND, the federal Ministry of Transport is litigating the construction of a railway in northern Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro.
Despite structural problems in the dams, the government has ignored warnings, and in the first quarter of this year, at least four dams broke in Ceará, affecting the lives of peasants.
The issues related to mining in Brazil are not isolated cases; but they reflect the predatory nature of large-scale mining in a semi-colonial country, where miners act as plunderers of natural resources to export minerals to imperialism. Currently, of the 942 dams in Brazil, approximately 102 are on alert or in emergency status, indicating a high risk of failure. For mining tycoons, it is more profitable to operate the dams irregularly and then fund the legal processes of affected families than to maintain the facilities properly.
Despite this alarming situation, Luiz Inácio defends the management of the mining and energy sector, praising the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silviera, as an exceptional leader who is revolutionizing the sector.
