A-Infos (en) Brazil, CAB: April 17th: 30 Years of Mourning, a Lifetime of Struggle: The Eldorado dos Carajás Massacre (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Thirty years ago, the organized people of the Macaxeira farm, in 
Curionópolis, marched to Belém, the capital of the state of Pará, to 
pressure the government, which had already committed to negotiating with 
INCRA, demanding the expropriation of unproductive land. Surrounded by 
hundreds of military police and gunmen acting on behalf of the 
government and large landowners, the cowardly violence was inflicted 
upon the people who demanded social justice. On April 17th, 21 comrades 
fell and many others were wounded, an episode known as the Eldorado dos 
Carajás massacre, which we commemorate today so that this painful 
history of struggle is never forgotten.

State violence, perpetrated by its old oligarchies and agents of 
capital, continues unchecked in the Legal Amazon, particularly in the 
state of Pará, which concentrates the highest number of land conflicts 
in Brazil. From 2014 to 2023, 1,999 incidents were recorded, followed 
closely by Maranhão. Regarding assassinations in rural areas, twice as 
many deaths (26) were recorded among landless peasants, settlers, 
indigenous people, squatters, and quilombola communities in 2025. 
Meanwhile, land demarcation by the Lula III government has almost 
stalled, with a reluctance to ratify lands already authorized by INCRA. 
The government seems to await grand farces, such as COP-30, to take 
photos, attempting to paint itself in green a capitalism that 
perpetuates the exploitation and destruction of our land and lives, 
trying to hide behind representativeness and conciliation a 
developmentalist project alongside local oligarchies that seeks to meet 
the demands of global elites who only wage war. Alongside them, Congress 
continues to threaten the return of the temporal framework and Law 
6.050, which legalizes mining and other activities on indigenous lands.

The powerful do not deceive the people, and the recent struggles in Pará 
demonstrate this. More than words, the indigenous peoples of the Lower 
Tapajós and now the women of the Middle Xingu, through direct action 
that is, action carried out and directed by those affected themselves, 
without outside delegations have decided to occupy Cargill and now Belo 
Sun in defense of their territory. Despite the government's political 
maneuvers of conciliation and the dirty tricks of the companies, 
harassing non-aligned indigenous people, this method of struggle has 
shown us that it can be victorious, overcoming many institutional traps.

For over thirty years, these people who tread, live, worship, and work 
on this land have demanded justice for Eldorado, Colniza, Pau d'Aco, the 
Abacaxis River, and so many other episodes of cowardly violence, but 
also for Paulino Guajajara, Nega Pataxó, Quintino Lira, Mãe Bernadete, 
and so many other leaders who have become enchanted martyrs who today 
guide the struggle in the countryside. It will not be Vale, Cargill, 
Belo Sun, Ternium, or Terrabras that will improve the lives of the 
people, much less will the Sarney, Barbalho, Campos, Lira, Calheiros, 
etc. families defend the lives of the people. We expect nothing from 
them, much less justice. This justice will not be given to us, nor will 
it fall from the sky, but will be wrested and made by ourselves, and 
this is how it has been done day by day, in the cut wire, in the care of 
the land by the hands of our people: the self-determination of peoples, 
in the defense of land and territory, is indeed the true struggle for 
sovereignty. Therefore, the conflict, the war, is not in the Middle 
East; it was declared thirty years ago by the other side, and we 
continue to resist, defending our lives and autonomy. Today, the April 
17th Settlement celebrates three decades working the land and demanding 
Popular Agrarian Reform!

Fight, create, Popular Agrarian Reform!

Brazilian Anarchist Coordination

https://cabanarquista.com.br/17-de-abril-30-anos-de-luto-toda-uma-vida-de-luta-o-massacre-de-eldorado-dos-carajas/
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