Brazil – Rondônia: Victorius Demonstration to Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Heroic Peasant Resistance of Santa Elina
We hereby share an unofficial translation of an important report of a mobilization carried out in Rondônia.
Peasants, indigenous people, students, teachers, and activists defending the struggle for land gathered this Saturday, the 9th, in Corumbiara to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Heroic Peasant Resistance of Santa Elina in a vigorous demonstration summoned by the League of Poor Peasants (LCP) of Rondônia and Western Amazon, the Coordination of the Leagues of Poor Peasants of Brazil, and the Committee for the Defense of the Victims of Santa Elina (CODEVISE).
The homages began around 9 a.m. with an ecumenical act held in honor of the victims of the coward Corumbiara Massacre, orchestrated and executed by the Military Police (MP) of Rondônia in 1995 against the peasants struggling for the possession of the latifundium of Santa Elina. In the face of the massacre, which left peasants dead, including children, others beaten, and women mistreated, the peasants did not bow their heads and resisted actively the massacre ordered by the latifundium.
The act, organized in disciplined columns, started at the Main Church located in the center of Corumbiara and went through a busy commercial street. Vibrantly, the crowds and activists declared: “Long live the League of Poor Peasants!”, “Eternal honor and glory to the heroes of the armed peasant resistance of Corumbiara!”.
The indigenous people present reaffirmed that the indigenous’ and peasant’s cause are the same: the struggle for land and territory, and that they have the same enemies, as the repressive forces of the old State, the goons, and the latifundium act with the same violence against both indigenous people and peasants. Both groups defended that only by continuing the struggle for land they can achieve the victory.
In the shops and on the streets, the Corumbiara’s masses expressed their support for the struggle for land. When a business attempted to silence the voices at the event by placing a loudspeaker at high volume, the workers who were maintaining electrical cables took the loudspeaker inside the store so that the demonstration could be heard again by everyone.
Homage to ‘Comrade Caviar’, murdered by the BOPE
During the event, a tribute was held for the peasant murdered by the BOPE on August 8 in the Valdiro Chagas Revolutionary Area. It was highlighted the commitment that Caviar, as he was known among his comrades, had for the defense of other peasants in the Valdiro Chagas Area. It was stated that his murder is a terrorist act by the State aimed at intimidating the struggle for land at a time of historic intensification of struggles in the countryside.
For the demonstrators, the event was a strong blow to the reaction in Rondônia, which attempted to intimidate the peasant movement by carrying out one of its usual raids and murdering a peasant dedicated to defending his comrades and the struggle for land.
The coward murder, carried out by the hordes of the Rondônia MP, acting as goons under the command of latifundium and led by the influential TikToker Régis Braguin the day before, aimed to drown the spirit of the struggle for land in blood. However, it was thwarted by the fury and organization demonstrated in the municipality of Corumbiara.
In homage to Caviar, the demonstrators sang a verse from the LCP anthem, affirming that his “blood will be a seed” that will inspire new people’s fighters to continue the revolutionary task with discipline and dedication.
In a statement released on October 10, the National Commission of the LCP stated: “All these attacks reveal that the struggle for the Agrarian Revolution has persisted and advanced more and more. If the big landlords, their armed gangs, and their own MP’s guaxebas attack us, it is because they fear the advance of the Agrarian Revolution, and the ferocity with which they attack us more and more is a demonstration that our struggle is just and that we have achieved our goals of conquering the land and destroying latifundium, giving the land to poor landless peasants or those with little land.”
