MST members participate in the lockdown march of the 5th Congress of the Movement of Rural Workers Without Land (MST) in 2007. Photo: Wilson Dias/ABr/file photo.
Around 400 families from Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) were compelled this Monday, February 10, to abandon the Santa Luzia Estate in Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, following intense pressure from police forces.
The families had occupied the estate earlier in the week to demand that the government complete the process of transferring the land to the Union for agrarian reform. However, after hours of negotiations and a disproportionate police presence, they were forced to withdraw.
The MST action sought to put pressure on the federal government to speed up the transfer of the land to the Union, due to the large debts of the Sapucaia Power Plant, the owner of the land. The company owes more than 208 million reales to the government.
According to a statement issued by the MST, the eviction was carried out peacefully, in the presence of a “disproportionate police contingent.”
The group of uniformed men included more than 20 vehicles, three buses and the riot squad of the Military Police. The instructions were clear: to evict the workers, children and elderly from the lands “under any circumstances and without a court order.”
The families arrived at the farm in an attempt to force the government to conclude the adjudication process, a judicial act that transfers the possession and ownership of specific assets.
The MST’s action aimed to pressure the federal government to expedite the transfer of the land, which is owned by Usina Sapucaia, a sugar and alcohol company that owes over 208 million reais in debts to the nation. According to an MST statement, the evacuation was carried out peacefully, despite the heavy police presence, which included more than 20 vehicles, three buses, and riot police units.
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Eró Silva, a national MST leader in Rio de Janeiro, emphasized the urgency of completing the land transfer process, stating, “we are here to demand that the entire process be concluded. The improvements and topographic studies have already been done. Now we need to make the deposit, and this land—land of the debtor—will then be allocated for agrarian reform.”
The Santa Luzia Estate spans 1,104 hectares and, along with the nearby Tabatinga Estate (797 hectares), has been earmarked for agrarian reform for over a decade. However, legal disputes have stalled the process.
Despite the eviction, the MST remains committed to its fight for land reform. The movement, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2024, is one of the largest and most influential social movements in Latin America, with a presence in 24 Brazilian states, 185 cooperatives, and approximately 400,000 settled families.
(Telesur)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/BR/SH
