A-Infos (en) Brazil, OSL, Libera #182 - 29 YEARS AFTER THE ELDORADO DOS CARAJÁS MASSACRE (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

In September 1995, a camp of over 2,000 families formed along the PA-275 
highway in Curionópolis, Pará, targeting the unproductive 42,448-hectare 
Macaxeira Farm. Five months later, with no solution, the families 
decided to occupy the farm. The government promised to settle the 
campers and send them food. Two weeks later, the food had not arrived, 
and the landless workers decided to walk to Belém. On April 16, 1996, 
near Eldorado de Carajás, they decided to block the road to demand food 
for the march.

In the capital, the governor, the secretary of security, the state 
superintendent of INCRA in Marabá, and the president of the Pará Land 
Institute met and decided that the landless workers should be removed 
from the highway "by any means necessary." At 4 p.m. on April 17, 155 
police officers from the Paraupebas and Marabá battalions arrived 
throwing tear gas canisters. The workers responded with rocks and 
sticks. Amâncio Rodrigues da Silva was shot in the foot, fell, and was 
executed with a shot to the head. The scene outraged the landless 
workers, who retaliated with whatever they had. The police fired their 
machine guns. Twelve workers were shot in the head and chest; seven were 
killed with cutting instruments taken from them. The operation left 19 
dead, 69 injured, and at least seven missing. According to reports, 13 
were executed after surrendering. The state's crime shocked the world, 
and April 17 became the International Day of Struggle for Land and the 
National Day of Struggle for Agrarian Reform. Twenty-nine years after 
the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre, rural violence continues to escalate. 
According to rural conflict data from the Pastoral Land Commission 
(Cedoc-CPT), in 2024 alone, there were 1,768 land conflicts and 1,680 
reported cases of violence. It is also important to highlight the role 
of pesticide contamination in the increase in reported violence. Last 
year, there was a spike in incidents of this type of violation, rising 
from 32 in 2023 to 276 in 2024, a 762% increase. The majority of these 
incidents were recorded in Maranhão (228), where traditional communities 
are facing severe consequences due to aerial pesticide spraying.

In 2023, the Ruralist Caucus, or Parliamentary Agricultural Front (FPA), 
totaled 300 representatives in the National Congress, with Πof them 
from the PL. But agribusiness also has its paramilitary side. The 
Invasão Zero movement brings together farmers from several states across 
the country and has organized to fight armed land occupations, often in 
collaboration with local police, the judiciary, mayors, governors, and 
others.

In 2024, violent attacks, acknowledged and/or confirmed by "Invasão 
Zero," were identified in at least seven states. Coordinated attacks by 
groups of farmers, following the "Invasão Zero" operating patterns, 
occurred in four states. One case that stands out is the murder of Maria 
Fátima Muniz de Andrade (Nega Pataxó) in January of last year, committed 
by a farmer linked to the "Invasão Zero" group, during a Pataxó Hã Hã 
Hãe Indigenous land reclamation.

Violence in rural areas is linked not only to the expansion and 
organization of agribusiness, but also to the impunity and support this 
sector of Brazilian capitalism receives from the state. Examples of this 
include tax exemptions, such as the Kandir Law, which exempts 
agribusiness commodity exports (soybeans, corn, coffee) from ICMS (Tax 
on Goods and Services), the widespread liberalization of pesticide use, 
and the stagnation of agrarian reform, whose budget for 2024 was the 
smallest of all Workers' Party administrations to date. The Lula-Alckmin 
administration is no different, maintaining the pact and conciliation 
with agribusiness, contributing to the continued power of this parasitic 
sector in Brazil and solidifying the state as an accomplice to rural 
violence.

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