Lula's government is "very slow" and "fearful," says Stedile, MST leader

In the sights of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), João Pedro Stedile, leader of the movement, said that Lula was wrong when he spoke of land invasion; watch the interview.

The leader of the MST, João Pedro Stedile, told the column that the Lula government has been “very slow” and “fearful” in fulfilling campaign promises in the social field. In the sights of the MST's CPI, Stedile said that the president was wrong to accuse the movement of invading land.

“In internal politics, the government is very slow, sluggish. I dare say, in some areas, even fearful. So far, no family has been settled. For our government, six months is a long time to have no objective solution. The families of our base don't want to know if the MST is Lula's friend or not, but when are they going to solve the land problem,” said Stedile, reinforcing that the movement gave all support to the PT against Jair Bolsonaro.

Stedile was summoned by the MST's CPI. He is due to testify to deputies in August. For Stedile, the commission has members from the extreme right and has gained strength because the Lula government has “eaten the ball” in Congress.

In addition to unanswered MST requests, Stedile complained about the way in which the Lula administration has treated the entity publicly. Stedile defended the movement by correcting the president, the MST  does not invade, but occupies land.

“It was a mistake by President Lula to use the word 'invasion' again. Invasion is when a person invades someone else's property to appropriate that good. The Penal Code classifies it as theft of a good. The occupation, when carried out by a popular movement, is a form of struggle to call the government's attention to comply with what is in the Constitution, which is clear: all large unproductive properties must be expropriated by the government, with payment to the owners, and distributed to landless workers.”

For the economist and activist, Lula and ministers responded badly to the actions of the MST in the first half of the government.

“The government reacted badly to the two occupations, on our journey in April. If there is a presidential decree, signed by FHC, declaring that April 17 is the National Day of Struggle for Agrarian Reform, what are people expected to do? Stay at home sleeping? Then it would be the day of the deep sleep of agrarian reform. It is obvious that there would be mobilizations of all kinds,” he said.

Watch the full interview:

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