The RLA delegation gathered at the University of Parà for a press conference. Around 70 people attended.
Leaders of MST and CPT outlined the situation in Parà, the threats and killings that had taken place, and highlighted the case of the murders of José and Maria Cláudio in 2011.
Three men will be tried tomorrow in a court in Marabà for these murders. Many campesinos are gathering today for this afternoon’s public forum and to demonstrate outside the court. Laisa, the woman on the far left of the speakers panel, is the sister of the murdered Maria Cláudio. She has been threatened with murder too and everyone is very worried about her safety. She made a very emotional, tearful appeal that the impunity end and that not only these 3 men but also the powerful people behind the murders be put on trial.
Marianne Andersson, from the RLA Board, spoke about the importance of international solidarity to highlight human rights abuses and apply pressure to prevent impunity. Raul and myself were also introduced to the press. Journalists asked lots of questions and many interviews took place. The journalists were also invited to the public forum which took place in the afternoon at the same venue. I noticed that many of them did attend and continued their interviews.
The afternoon was extraordinarily powerful. Around 300 people crammed into the lecture room, the air conditioning was not working and we were all dripping with sweat, drinking water was continually taken around to everyone and yet for almost 4 hours we were riveted by the testimonies and speeches.
It started with poems and readings from activists and peasants, with recitations of the names of people killed, followed by denunciations of the major corporations and companies involved in the projects that are destroying people’s lives, especially Vale[1]. ‘Who killed these people?’, the peasants shouted and then placards appeared with the names of the companies. ‘We are not afraid – if they kill 100 of us then 1000 of us will come’, ‘It is impossible to kill our spirit and our hope’.
Then began the impressive, moving and tragic telling of the real experiences of the people suffering from the ‘great projects that cause great harm’ and from violent intimidation. They came from different social movements and from towns and villages nearby. Around 6 or 7 women and men stood in front of the gathering and told their stories:
- how Vale, wanting some land for a project, had intimidated a small community and bought some of them out, but that others had refused to move and how CPT had provided the support for them to resist and keep their property and homes
- how a dam had been built in 2000 and destroyed their life, how 60 more are planned for Parà, how 9 districts in Marabà will be affected, how few people get any benefits from the energy that is for the companies not the people
- how the huge agribusinesses have destroyed the forests and the soils and the impact on their communities
- the health impacts of the agri-toxics used by the Santa Barabara Group
- the crimes sponsored by a well known local businessman called Daniel Dantas with his hired thugs.
[1] Vale is a Brazilian multinational, the second-largest mining company in the world, the largest producer of iron ore but also producing manganese, ferroalloys, copper, bauxite, potash, kaolin, alumina and aluminium. It is also heavily involved in the electric energy sector and operates at least nine hydroelctric plants. It is part of the consortium building the world’s third largest hydroelectric dam on one of the Amazon’s major tributaries, the Xingu River. The Belo Monte Dam complex is designed to divert 80% of the Xingu River’s flow, devastating an area of over 1,500 square kilometers of Brazilian rainforest while resulting in the forced displacement of between 20,000 – 40,000 people. The project is causing grave and direct impacts to the land and livelihood of thousands of riverine and urban families, as well as 1,000 indigenous people from several communities, while provoking profound indirect impacts throughout the Xingu basin’s communities, rivers, and forests. Belo Monte will be one of the largest, most devastating infrastructure projects ever built in the Amazon.
These personal testimonies were interspersed with songs and poems ……… ‘Human flesh on the road, and people do nothing, do nothing, do nothing’, ‘We will never forget those who have died…….. They have killed another brother, another sister …….. The people will never forget’. From time to time throughout the meeting various chants, songs and poems would emerge. One woman wanted to know why the killers of her brother and sister have received land? Why are the perpetrators of violence being rewarded with land? Another spoke of the pain he still experienced from the bullet shot into his arm.
Then came the dozen or so speakers – consisting of lawyers, social justice movements, human rights organisations, religious leaders, politicians, victims, and someone from INCRA (Brazil’s National Institute for Colonisation and Agrarian Reform). Let me just give you a taste, there was so much information I was drowning in it all. Our delegation will write a formal report with many more details later along with recommendations for action. There were 12 speakers, including Raul from the RLA.
The CPT lawyer – 600 massacres in S.E. Parà in the last 10 years and only 2 guilty verdicts …. a new kind of torture for communities perpetrated by the Santa Barbara Group consists of dazzling spot lights into their villages and homes and shots in the night and the poisoning by agrochemicals dropped by planes over their homes …. how local people are being employed as farm workers and their documents stamped as such but are made to act as vigilantes …. how INCRA is allowing the corporations to take over public lands meant for the people …. the reports of slavery, missing or kidnapped people and murder, all these crimes are increasing and are closely associated with the building of big projects – dams, agribusinesses and mining. He also shared a great deal of background information around the murders of the Cláudio’s and INCRA’s responsibilities for this.
Various other lawyers associations[1] stated that land reform should be a government priority rather than making up laws to minimise social inequality.
There was a representative from INCRA who said, ‘Your voice is our voice but our hands are tied’ and he blamed Government bureaucracy for the delays in dealing with the land grabbing of public lands by big cattle ranchers and companies, saying that the appeals going to the Supreme Court in Brasilia slowed everything down. He was later taken to task for his bland statements and confronted passionately by the people for doing so little to help them.
Various local politicians who were on human rights commissions[2] stated, ‘Whenever we talk about human rights and violations we ourselves become targets’.
Other comments that were made were that life is more important than profits, that people must work
[1] OAB – Brazilian Advocates Association; Populist Advocates movement.
[2] It appears that local municipal legislatures have human rights commissions.
Download Day 2, 2nd April 2013 – University of Parà, Marabà in Pdf
Brazil, 2nd April 2013