MST Leaves Cattle Farm with Promise by INCRA

July 6, 2012Empty Shell Casings

By Bianca Pyl
Agência Repórter Brasil

The Movement of Landless Workers (MST) agreed to withdraw the families camped outside the headquarters of Fazenda Cedro (Cedar Farm) until next Sunday (July 8).

The property located in Eldorado dos Carajás (PA) in the southeast of the Pará state, belongs to the Santa Barbara Xinguara cattle company whose shareholders include the banker Daniel Dantas. At the end of the day June 21, guards the farm in question fired at demonstrators of the MST.

The armed offensive had targeted a group of at least 16 people, including children. The company, in turn, claims that the guards acted only in defense, against an act of occupation.

The decision of the landless to leave the site was taken at a meeting held last Tuesday (July 3), in Marabá (PA) between the MST, Agrarian Ombudsman, the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) and the Public Advocate of the State of Pará

The 300 families will be relocated into camps that already exist in other areas, announced Gercino José da Silva Filho, National Agrarian Ombudsman of the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA).

According to him, the movement agreed to withdraw because the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) has now inspected the property that will hold more than 1,000 families (check relationship below) that are camped out in other major properties under the umbrella of Santa Barbara Xinguara cattle company.

According to Gercino, who also chairs the National Commission for Combating Violence in the Countryside, the Public Security Secretary of Pará said the investigation into the case has already been established. With the departure of families, a public hearing will be scheduled between the peasant social movements and the Santa Barbara Xinguara cattle company. "Either party may convene a hearing by request to the judge of the Court of Marabá," added the ombudsman.

He also confirmed that Santa Barbara should provide to INCRA part of the property known as "Cedar Complex." A lawsuit about this parcel has run in the Marabá Agrarian Court for nearly two years. Information contained in the statement released by the MST gave account that the "Santa Barbara Livestock Company is required, since 2010, to return to the federal government part of the Cedar Farm, more specifically 826 hectares of its area." "In October 2010," continued the statement communicated by the movement, "the Federal Court in Marabá ruled that repossession by INCRA to transform it into Little Cedar Settlement Project."

In the evaluation of the ombudsman, the delay for the effective allocation of land reform area is normal, because the lands involved are very large (the sum, in that case, in the neighborhood of 20,000 hectares [49,420 acres]). "Also, there is the bureaucracy of public service. Now, for example, the INCRA is on strike," it detailed. The notification phase of the owners is also a time-consuming procedure, explained Gercino.

Currently, MST families, the Federation of Agricultural Workers of Pará (Fetagri) and the National Federation of Workers in Family Agriculture (Fetraf) occupy, in addition to Cedar (300 families), Fortaleza Farm (60 families), Porto Rico farm (110 families), Espírito Santo farm (160 families) and Maria Bonita  farm (494 families).

"But these other areas are not intended for agrarian reform because the law [8.629/1993] does not permit or inspect these sites," said the ombudsman. The portion of the "Cedar Complex" designed by the Judiciary to INCRA is not sufficient to accommodate all families camped and land agency should inspect other properties in order to settle all families.

A group of entities issued a manifesto in support of the actions of the MST to demand the return of Cedar Farm. The reporter tried to contact the INCRA to access more details on the procedures and measures underway, but the questions were not served until the close of this matter as a function of the strike by employees of the federal agency. The category asks equalization of salaries with the salaries paid to employees of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA).

Threat

Before the conflict ended once again in shots against the landless, the climate in the region was already very tense. The president of the Rural Workers Union (STR) of Eldorado dos Carajás (PA), Regina Maria Gonçalves, suffered intimidation by local land owners a week before the event.

On Friday (June 15, 2012), a committee of ten landowners went to the headquarters of the union to intimidate her. "I was surrounded by landowners, who made me worried and very nervous. They said 150 gunmen were prepared to receive anyone who tried to invade."

The unionist said the group suggested that she sign a document guaranteeing that there would be no occupation of an area in the Sereno Settlement Project. The unionist refused. "I cannot commit to that because I'm not the one who organizes occupations."

Regina said that a landowner went on to say "who warns a friend is" her sister in a threatening tone. On Monday (June 18, 2012), Regina registered a police report with the Bureau of Land Conflicts of Marabá (PA).