Brazil – Paramilitaries launch another attack against the peasants of Area Valdiro Chagas with the support of the MP of Rondônia
Hereby we share an unofficial translation of an article published by A Nova Democracia.
Just a few days after the operation of the Battalion Of Special Operations (BOPE) of the Military Police (MP) of Rondônia (RO) in the Area Valdiro Chagas, in Machadinho D’Oeste, paramilitaries entered in the community on 12th of August and beat up a peasant and burn down his house and crops.
The actions try to establish a terror clima within the families of this area, who fear to be the next victims of the attacks that the big landlords order, with the help of the old State. Peasants report that they have been stopped and searched by paramilitaries on the streets and corners close to their residencies.
The attack occurred three days after the murder of a peasant by the BOPE on 8th of August, while a operation that was made on the day before a big demonstration in commemoration of the 30 years of the Santa Elina Battle. This way, the police operation happened as a form of preparation for new offensives by the paramilitaries.
This is a common tactic in the zones of agrarian conflicts: the police occupies, seeds fear, raid houses, detain peasants unjustly and then the goons enter to fulfill the dirty job. In 2017, in Pau D’Darco (PA) it was like this, when ten peasants were executed by the police. This case included the execution of ten peasants who where living in a camp on the Santa Lúcia Latifundium, a property that is located in a zone of agrarian conflict. These peasants who were part of a anti-latifundium movement, were in dispute with the big landlords of the region.
The policemen acted in the interests of the big landlords, illegally and against the constitutional principles that rain supposedly the so-called security forces. The action was typical of a paramilitary group in the service of big landlords: violent, out of jurisdiction and turned into repression against a legitimate peasants movement. The intent of creating a crime scene to simulate a shooting, is only reinforcing the criminal character of the operation.
The same happened in the areas of the League of Poor Peasants in Rondônia, like the revolutionary Area Gedeon José Duque, in Machadinho D’Oeste (RO). On the 31st of March 2025, goons of the group known as “Invasão Zero”, armed with pistols, shotguns and precision rifles, attacked the camp where 120 families lived. They were located in the areas called “Gonçalo” and “Valdiro”. The families, many with pregnant women and babies, had their homes threatened, being pointed by guns, two shots fired that hit two peasants. The inhabitants of the camp denounce that in various occasions the MP acted together with groups of goons, in order to guarantee the security of the paramilitaries and the repression on the occupiers.
In reality the MP acts as a complementary force to the paramilitary groups hired by the big landlords. This occurs in an open form: in a video that was published recently on the internet a member of the entity of the Association of Soy Producers (Aprosoja) appeared on the side of the general commander of the MP of Rondônia, mentioning that the Association has signed a “Public-Private-Partnership” with the military corporation.
The goons’ attack happens at the same time that the same commander is giving his best in demonizing the LCP on the social media, as you can see on the recent material published by AND: “The murder of a peasant and the destruction of structures of a Poor Peasants League (LCP)’s camp on the 8th of august, was followed by a digital offensive of military Bolsonaro supporters on social media. With no base, the general commander of the military police (MP) Regís Braguin and the colonel of the reactionary army Fernando Montenegro published videos presenting the peasants movement as “armed guerrilla”, “criminal organization” and “rural insurgency”, with the clear objective of creating a smoke curtain to silence the illegal operation by the Special Operations Battalion (BOPE) in the Area Valdiro Chagas, in Machadinho d’Oeste, and justifying new attacks.”, says the report.
The material highlights it this way: “Braguin, who presents himself as a spokesperson for absolute justice, does not take long to reveal his sinister face. In a video posted on his Instagram, a macabre piece of propaganda can be seen featuring a car driving in the dark with background music and a child’s voice saying: “One, two, don’t look back; three, four, running is no longer useful; five, six, it’s your turn; seven, eight, nine, ten, he will pull your feet.” At the end of the video, a car shows police officers looking drugged. Braguin is not satisfied with the video and adds in the post’s description: “We are not only on the streets. We are hunting.”As far as we know, there is no indication in the Brazilian constitution that rules the police force to hunt men, but the general commander does not have much regard for that document. In the end, he is the same one who admits not obeying the law of his own State, which he claims to defend: on May 18, he said, “For me, the LCP should be classified as terrorists; the law does not provide for that, which is a shame, but so it is, in police action we already working under this approach.”
The report is denouncing as well, how Braguin is violating the code of military conduct by participating in actions of political content, and also how the colonel Montenegro is known for his anti-national publications on “social media”. The recent publications of the colonel are defending the sanctions against Brazil and the freedom of the former president Jair Bolsonaro. “Fernando Montenegro not only dedicates himself to demonizing the peasant movement but also presents himself as “kid preto”: in his free time, he spreads chaos and contributes to U.S. economic sanctions against his own country. In a video with apocalyptic sounds, he suggests that U.S. sanctions against Brazil will have catastrophic effects because the Brazilian government is “challenging” the U.S. government, just like “countries such as Venezuela and Iran.” He states, “I believe the effects of this law’s enforcement could overthrow the current government or cause a civil war, do you agree?”—a question that sounds like a mix of doubt and desire. “The lesson is that Brazil, due to its dependency, cannot withstand” the sanctions, says the shameless individual, in the style of the “digital militias” of the bush captain, suggesting that either Brazil frees its president Bolsonaro from condemnation, or there will be no place for our nation in this world.”
