20 Arrested and One Murdered in New Operation Against the LCP in Rondônia

According to the newspaper A Nova Democracia (AND), the Public Ministry of Rondônia has launched Operation “Godos” against the League of the Poor Peasants (LCP) in Rondônia. This operation has already resulted in 20 people being detained and one peasant being murdered at the Tiago Campin dos Santos area. Another 50 people are wanted. Among those detained is the people’s lawyer Lenir Correia from the Brazilian Association of People’s Lawyers (ABRAPO), known for her firm defense of peasants in the region.

Announced as one of the largest operations in the region, 500 civil and military police have been deployed. According to the Military Police, the operation has been launched against a “huge criminal organization” for the “deforestation of 25,000 hectares of forest.” Let us remember that repressive forces and media serving the ruling classes have already made such accusations of mass deforestation against the LCP:

The repressive forces mention the Tiago Campin dos Santos Area as the territory of the “criminal organization.” AND reports that the relationships between the accused and their alleged involvement in the formation of this “criminal organization” have not yet been clarified. For example, among those accused and wanted, who are identified as “leaders of the LCP,” there are both current and former local institutional officials. However, it is well known that the LCP publicly advocates for an electoral boycott, making the relation between the accused and the LCP antagonistic in this regard. There are also accusations attempting to link the LCP with the criminal organization Comando Vermelho, without any basis for this accusation. AND reports that this aims to “confuse public opinion and take advantage of a reactionary wave to criminalize and demoralize the peasant movement.” Local peasants assert that this “mega-operation” actually seeks to destroy the Tiago Campin dos Santos area and aid the big landlord known as ‘Galo Velho,’ who owns the land of the Tiago Campin dos Santos area where hundreds of peasant families live and work.

ABRAPO has denounced that among the 20 detainees is people’s lawyer Lenir Correia Coelho, who has a long history of activism in Rondônia and has defended peasant causes for many years. She has been involved in the defense of cases of evictions of peasants, criminalized activists in the peasant struggle, advocating for the freedom of political prisoners, and for the allocation of land to the peasantry. ABRAPO condemns the arrest as “arbitrary and unconstitutional” and “politically motivated.” Thus, ABRAPO indicates that this arrest is part of “a broader context of persecution against defenders of the people’s rights.” The organization National Network of Popular Lawyers – RENAP has also denounced the case, explaining that “this is yet another episode of the escalation of state persecution against human rights defenders operating in agrarian conflict territories, especially in the Amazon.”