Brazil: Peasants of Machadinho D’Oeste, Rondônia, denounce police harassment
Hereby we publish an unofficial translation of the article of the Newspaper A Nova Democracia.
Military policemen and goons keep trying to intimidate the peasants of the revolutionary area Gedeon José Duque, in Machadinho D’Oeste, Rondônia, according to the audio messages that have been sent to the editorial staff of AND.
“These days my friend has been interrogated closely to the line 10. they also took a phot of his document”, informed a peasant. He made more clear that the intervention was arbitrary and motiveless. This version of the story was confirmed by an other peasant woman, who said that the police had installed a checkpoint and patrolled in the zone to intimidate the families.
The offensive of the MP against the peasants occurred in the midst of the attacks of the goons of the group “Invasão Zero” and the group that is lead by Gesulino Castro. AND been following the situation closely and have denounced various violations of rights that occurred in the Area Gedeon since more then a month.
In one of the attacks, the goons set on fire the peasant’s cultivations, destroyed houses, killed and harmed domestic and farm animals. That is what reported a regional solidarity mission. AND reported on this mission exclusively.
The peasants inform that the MP also is functioning like a gang in service of the big landlords. “It outrages me, cause there are things that the police needs to take care of, but it doesn’t, they come around in a line of 10 cops. To do what? To oppress the peasants that fight for land.”, she commented.
The actions of the MP happen without any jurisdictional order or legal decision and are in favor of the big landlords. The 9th of April the policemen came to attack the peasants together with the big landlords and the goons. Photos have captured patrols in cars that are shared with the mercenaries. In the ends of April the MP intensified their patrols after that the peasants have repelled attacks of the goons of “Invasão Zero” that been destroying the forest of the area Gedeon.
Despite the harassment, the peasant woman insists in that the families won’t step back in the fight for land. “Since I was a child I heard my father and mother say that they are waiting for land, today they are dead. The INCRA never handed out the land, gave land to no one. (…) We need to struggle”, she said.
The peasants summoned all democrats and progressive people to follow closely the happenings in Machadinho D’Oeste, to defend the Agrarian Revolution and denouncing the police violence and the paramilitary group.
