Brazil: Rondônia, Peasants denounce goons and PM terrorism in the Area Valdiro Chagas
We share an unofficial translation of an article by A Nova Democracia.
A video sent to AND by peasants of the Area Valdiro Chagas denounces that they are living under constant conditions of war that the poor families experience in the countryside. The reports reinforce the fact that the Military Police (MP) acts together with the goons, spreading fear and terror between the inhabitants with the clear objective of expelling the peasants from their land.
One of the peasants of the region explained the situation: “we think it is justified to defend the good people”. He denounces also the criminal role of the police: “but we heard there, that the police is infiltrating together with the goons to spread fear among the people and commit terror on the area”.
The scenario of: “children being afraid to go to school, because you don’t know if it is police, or a goons patrol with the police, no one knows if it is goon or policeman.” he reported.
The peasants affirmed that the institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra) acts in accordance with the latifundium: “Incra fights for Incra, they take from the people and give it to the big landlords”. According to the inhabitants of the Area Valdiro Chagas, the objective of the ruling classes is evident: “they want that the people leave the area for the big landlord occupies it”.
Apart from the terror, the peasants reaffirm that they won’t loose control of the land conquered with struggle: “we only gained land, only got in possession of land, by occupation and through courage”. As a response the peasants go for the only way that is possible: “the people fight alone, the people has to unite their force in one single place”.
Rejecting the hoaxes that they are criminal, the peasant affirmed: “there are only working people, there are no bandits. Bandits don’t plant, and don’t wear shirt to work in the hot sun”.
Finally he recollects a long trajectory of poor people’s resistance of the countryside: “since I was a child I heard of the agrarian reform, I see people going to camps and fight, so I see people gain land”.
Following the chronicle of the developments that the newspaper A Nova Democracia has published, in the report of Rondônia and the Bolsonaro supporters offensive against the LCP, the denunciation of the peasants of the Area Valdiro Chagas reveal that the same pattern of terrorism is being used in different regions of the country: acting together with the police forces, big landlords, and gangs of goons in order to suffocate the just struggle for land of the people.
So the community testimony adds it to in-numerous other cases of violence in the countryside, making it clear that the policy of the old State stays at the service of the latifundium, meanwhile poor workers pay with blood and sweat to dare to struggle for a piece of land to live on and to produce.
Colonel Braguin, functionary of the Latifundium
It is not possible to understand the escalation of threats and crimes against peasants of the Area Valdiro Charas without mentioning the role of the colonel James Braguin, from the Military Police of Rondônia.
Braguin has distinguished himself as a frontline defender of big landlords, even ranting on social media against organized peasants and inciting open persecution. As reported by AND in an article about the paramilitary role of the Military Police in Valdiro Chagas, the colonel blatantly works to transform the police into a praetorian guard of the big landlords, promoting intimidation, illegal evictions, and covering up the crimes of goons.
His story is also connected to the murder of a peasant in Rondônia, where the community denounced the joint actions of military police and goons. In these situations, Braguin and figures like the big landlord Montenegro were identified as orchestrators and direct beneficiaries of the terror imposed on the poor people of the countryside.
Thus, far from being isolated cases, the crimes committed against peasant families in the Valdiro Chagas Area represent the continuation of a systematic policy, where the Military Police plays the role of auxiliary line of goons in the service of the big landlords.
