[01/10/06] 11 years after the Corumbiara Massacre, MST families await reparations

Tired of waiting almost 11 years for compensation from the government, the rural workers who are representatives of the victims of the massacre of Corumbiara announced on January 9, that they intend to send a commission to Brasilia in March in the hopes of meeting with President Lula.

They ask that justice be done for the death of nine people and for the dozens of wounded left by the police and gunmen who in August 1995, expelled 600 families who were camped on the Santa Elina Ranch in the township of Corumbiara, Rondonia.

The representatives of the victims of the massacre will also attempt to be heard by the Public Ministry, by the Senate Commission on Human Rights, and by the Chamber of Deputies.

The announcement emphasizes that the images and reports from Corumbiara went around the world, creating indignation wherever they went. They showed farmers being tortured, the body of seven-year-old Vanessa, dead from a shot to her chest, and the testimony of a rural worker who was forced by the police and gunmen to eat part of the brain of another rural worker who had been killed.

by Antonio Diniz from Brasília, Agência Notícias do Planalto

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In Portuguese –
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Also, a similar update is available at the MST's website:
http://www.mst.org.br/informativos/minforma/ultimas1484.htm