Brazil: Peasants from Fleixas Face Police Intimidation

We publish an unofficial translation of an article by A Nova Democracia.

On Wednesday, May 14, in the Flexeiras community, municipality of Arari (Maranhão), the civil and military police executed a search and seizure warrant at the home of a peasant. The families in the community reported that the police vehicles passed through the streets at high speed, putting the lives of the residents at risk. At the time of the police action, only women and two children aged 3 and 4 were present in the residence.

The police intimidated the women and took their cell phones, which were not objects of the warrant, as well as a motorcycle—the family’s only mean of transportation. All the rooms in the house were searched thoroughly by the police, who also recorded videos and took photos of the surroundings.

When the women questioned, they claimed to be there searching for drugs and weapons. Male police officers then subjected one of the peasant women to a body search, without any chance of defense, humiliating and embarrassing her.

History of Struggles in the Community

In 2018, the peasants of that territory organized to struggle against the invasion of big landlords, land grabbers, and buffalo ranchers in the region. In the last five years, six peasants have been brutally murdered in the area.

In September 2019, five peasants from Flexeiras spent 39 days in prison, accused of forming a gang and carrying weapons. The region where these families live is located in an Area of Environmental Protection, owned by the Union and the State of Maranhão.

A decision from the Maranhão Agrarian Court recognized, on July 27, 2024, the possession of the peasants from the Povoado Flexeiras, which had been usurped by the big landlord Raimundo Nonato Everton, among others, who invaded and fenced off the lands and flooded fields, with the complicity of the Police and the Judiciary of Arari.