Criminalization Against the LCP in Rondônia, Brazil

Featured image: Peasants organized by the LCP defend taken lands in Barro Branco. Source: AND.

The tabloid press in Rondônia has launched new attacks against the struggle of Brazilian peasants, led by the League of the Poor Peasants (LCP), according to reports by Resistencia Camponesa and A Nova Democracia (AND). These accusations come shortly after the murder of the peasant leader known as “Flecha,” Adeildo Gonçalves Calheiro. We recently reported on this murder:

https://redherald.org/2026/01/24/urgent-lcp-condemns-the-criminal-execution-of-the-peasant-leader-adeildo-goncalves-calheiro/

The website “Expressão de Rondônia”, for example, accuses peasant leader Flecha of leading the “criminal organization League of the Poor Peasants”, which it describes as “known for its high degree of organization and violence in agrarian disputes.” Another website, “Inforondônia”, has directly stated that the LCP “is known for its armed disputes in rural areas and for its high level of organization” and that “in previous actions, security forces had already seized rifles and machine guns.”

Resistencia Camponesa and AND mention that this is not new, and that it adds to the widespread criminalization of the LCP, but they do not mention anything about groups recognized as criminal even by the law, such as the paramilitary groups dismantled in Rondônia in July 2020, for example, as part of the armed criminal violence of the latifundium. These criminals paid by the big landlords have committed numerous attacks against peasants, who have chosen to organize their self-defense, which the LCP defines as “a sacred right of the masses.”

Regarding the accusations against Flecha, the National Commission of the LCP emphasized that “Comrade Flecha is not and has never been a bandit,” but rather “a prominent and beloved peasant leader, committed to the Agrarian Revolution until his last drop of blood.”