Latest News on the League of Poor Peasants in Brazil
We hereby gather some news on the struggle for land in Brazil, specifically on the League of Poor Peasants (LCP).
Peasants of Rondônia resist attack by Invasão Zero
The peasants of the Gedeon José Duque Camp, in Machadinho do Oeste (RO), organized by the LCP, were attacked on March 31 by goons coordinated by the Invasão Zero group from Rondônia, according to reports from the LCP and the Brazilian Association of People’s Lawyers Gabriel Pimenta (Abrapo).
Reports indicate that the peasants confronted the latifundium forces and managed to repel the attack, although two peasants were injured. Residents fear new attacks, with an even larger number of goons. The camp houses 120 families whose lives have been threatened by the hordes of the Invasão Zero group. The land occupied by the peasants includes four farms on public land that were usurped and, according to Brazilian law, should be given to landless peasants.
Despite this, the big landlords of Rondônia feel entitled to arm paramilitary groups and attack the peasants, with the support of the State government, which mobilizes the Military Police and other repressive forces. In 2021, Governor Marcos Rocha requested the then Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres, to send the National Force and the Army to repress the peasants in the region.
Last year, the peasants of Machadinho do Oeste faced a series of coordinated attacks between goons and police. These attacks add to other crimes committed by big landlords against peasants and indigenous people in recent weeks, including attacks in Bahia and Mato Grosso do Sul. Although the goons were intimidated by the news spread through the official ABRAPO Instagram page, they continue to mobilize forces and prepare for a new attack against the peasants.
Barro Branco promises to respond to the latifundium fires
On March 19 and 20, a group of goons at the service of a local big landlord, who is interested in the peasant’s lands, set fire to the crops of the residents of Engenho Barro Branco in Jaqueira, Pernambuco. The report was made by a peasant through the Instagram page of the Committee to Support the Occupiers of Barro Branco, who attributed the attack to a local big landlord involved in land disputes. The goons, who arrived at night to avoid the peasant resistance, destroyed several crops, but the fire was contained by the mobilization of the residents.
In response to the attack, the peasants stated that they would not be intimidated and that they would struggle for every inch of land, promising not to let the crime go unpunished.
