2016 turned out to be the second most violent year for land conflicts in Brazil in the last 25 years, only just behind 2003. That reality is made up of 61 murders, including those of 16 young people between 15 and 29 years of age, one adolescent and six women. In total there were 1,536 conflicts, including agrarian and labour issues and water rights disputes – an average of 4.2 per day.
The data is drawn from the report “Conflicts in the countryside 2016”, published by the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), the most recent of a series been published annually since 1985. It was presented to the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo, in collaboration with the PT deputy Carlos Neder, as part of a strategy to secure regional publicity for land struggles in Brazil.
“It is with great sadness that we present this report,” said Fr Antonio Naves, a member of the CPT for São Paulo, “There is a continuing project to massacre peasants who fight for their land,” he added, recalling that land conflicts have existed ever since the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century. “It has been 500 years of the massacre of the weakest, the blacks and the quilombolas (descendants of former slaves). These have not been isolated cases, but a systematic killing project.” (more...)
My wife's family was driven off the land when she was 8 years old. The military dictatorship provided additional incentive to leave Brazil in the 70s... so here we are in Deer Park, a small Brazilian community.
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