Landless workers lead the ranking with seven cases; expert warns of Brazil’s long-standing rural violence
Killings in rural areas have doubled in Brazil in 2025 compared to the previous year. As of the publication of this report, 26 people had been murdered in land-related conflicts across the country. In 2024, there were 13 cases, the lowest figure of the past decade, according to partial data from the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT).
Despite this, last year recorded a ten-year high in the number of land conflicts, underscoring the systemic nature of rural violence in Brazil. In this context, deaths and other forms of violence should not be seen as isolated incidents, but as the outcome of a development model based on monoculture farming, land exploitation, and the erosion of rural and traditional peoples’ rights, warns historian Carlos Lima, who has documented rural violence in Brazil since 1993.
According to Lima, the ongoing territorial disputes expose the lack of effective public policies for land redistribution and the protection of traditional peoples’ rights. “Brazil never carried out agrarian reform. We failed to recognize and title the lands of Indigenous peoples and quilombola communities. There is a historical process that the Brazilian state has been unable to resolve,” said the historian, a member of CPT’s national coordination. “On the other hand, agribusiness and capital advance over these communities, pushing back boundaries, creating tension, and triggering violent processes.”
Cowboy killed in ambush
Not by coincidence, cases of violence are concentrated in areas where cattle ranching and monocultures such as soybeans, cotton, and other large-scale crops are expanding.
In the most recent case, cowboy Marcos Antônio Pereira da Cruz, 38, was ambushed in a rural area of São Félix do Xingu, in southern Pará state, on December 15.
He was working with Brazil’s environmental agency, Ibama, on an operation to remove invaders from the Apyterewa Indigenous Land, a long and violence-ridden process.
With a territorial area roughly the size of Austria, São Félix do Xingu hosts Brazil’s largest cattle herd. The municipality has more than 2.5 million head of cattle, some of them grazing illegally on lands inhabited by the Parakanã Indigenous people. Apyterewa is also one of the most deforested Indigenous lands in Brazil.
The cowboy was removing cattle belonging to invaders when he was shot at point-blank range. He was rescued by helicopter but did not survive. In May 2025, two Indigenous people were targeted by gunmen in the same area. One was grazed by a bullet in the leg, while the other managed to escape unharmed.
Along with Rondônia, Pará is the state with the highest number of rural killings. In 2025, seven murders were recorded in each of these states.
In Bahia, four people were killed, all of them Indigenous. In Paraná, two Indigenous people were murdered in 2025. In São Paulo state, the victims were two farmers from the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST), killed by land grabbers at the Olga Benário settlement.
Two posseiros (small-scale occupiers without land titles) were murdered in the Amazonian municipalities of Boca do Acre and Lábrea, in the Amacro region, an agricultural frontier spanning the states of Amazonas, Acre, and Rondônia, where land conflicts are concentrated. In Mato Grosso do Sul, the victim was Indigenous, while in Minas Gerais, the victim was an agrarian reform settler.
Despite the increase in killings, 2025 has still recorded fewer rural deaths than recent years such as 2021, 2022, and 2023, when 35, 47, and 31 cases were reported, respectively.
Lima highlights the growing strength of rural militias as a key factor behind the rise in violence. “At the end of the Bolsonaro government and the beginning of the Lula administration, a group called Invasão Zero emerged. In addition to its political influence, with several lawmakers involved, it also appears to operate with the force of law enforcement, almost like a state apparatus,” he said.
The group is under investigation for its alleged involvement in the murder of Indigenous woman Maria Fátima Muniz de Andrade, known as Nega Pataxó, who was killed in early 2024 in southern Bahia.
Landless workers are the main victims
Among the victims of rural killings in 2025, landless workers, Indigenous peoples, and posseiros stand out, with ten, seven, and four cases, respectively. These groups are on the front lines of land disputes in Brazil, fighting for the demarcation of traditional territories and for ways of life that run counter to the expansion of monoculture agriculture.
According to CPT’s classification, landless workers are those living in camps or disputed areas. “They are engaged in the struggle for agrarian reform. Usually, they are fighting over land that does not fulfill its social function. They may be camping inside the farm itself or along the side of a highway after having already been evicted,” Lima explained.
Posseiros, in turn, live on and cultivate land often passed down through generations. “It belonged to the grandfather, then the father, and they continue living there, but without legal security. They have possession, but not ownership,” the historian said. Land possession can be proven by use, while ownership is guaranteed through formal purchase and title documentation.
Finally, Indigenous peoples across Brazil remain historical targets of violence. Of the seven Indigenous people killed in 2025, four were in Bahia, two in Paraná, and one in Mato Grosso do Sul, all in areas of conflict with rural elites and land grabbers.
Another category tracked by CPT are the allies: individuals who do not necessarily work in rural areas but provide some form of support or service to these communities.
Data on rural killings in 2025 remain partial. According to CPT, additional cases are still under review and may be included in the final rural violence report, scheduled for publication in 2026.
