MST occupies farm and gains settlement in São Borja [3-21-11]

Monday, March 21, 2011

Four hundred landless families occupied, early on Monday (March 21), the Fazenda Palermo, in the city of São Borja, Rio Grande do Sul. The landless require that the state government finalize the expropriation of the area to settle 54 camped families. They also demand that the federal and state governments immediately settle all of the thousand landless families camped in the state.

In 2008, during the march of the MST to the Fazenda Guerra (northern Rio Grande do Sul), the federal government signed a TAC (Terms of Adjustment of Conduct) which undertook to settle all families camped in the RS [Rio Grande do Sul]. To date, this has not happened. The MST wants the government to comply with the TAC. Land Reform has ceased due to the delay of the large estates in the region of São Borja. Today where only a few animals and people exist, 54 families can live and produce healthy food, creating jobs and moving the local trade.

Expropriation of Fazenda Palermo has stopped since the begining of the Olivio government

The expropriation of Fazenda Palermo is already established, but, for which the Court issues title to the possession of the farm to the government of RS, it must still pay an amount to the land owner. The deadlock over the area, since the government of Olivio Dutra was initiated, began when the expropriation started.

Until now, after ten years, the dispute has not yet been resolved. Only after having land ownership is the government of RS able to settle families in the area.

Today, a thousand families still live on the roadside under the black tarp in Rio Grande do Sul Many have camped for nine years. Since the expropriation of part of Fazenda Southall in São Gabriel (western border), in 2008, no landless family has been settled in the state.

Agrarian reform has been put aside by the federal government, which prioritizes agribusiness. So far, President Dilma Rousseff has not presented plans for agrarian reform. Millions of dollars are intended by the federal government to rescue the companies of the crisis and pardon the debts of the landowners, but there is no recourse for the Agrarian Reform, which generates employment in the field and produces food for the population the country.