Number 358, July 9, 1999.
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In this week's issue:
>NEWS BRIEFS
- Update on Diniz case
- Agrarian reform: occupations rise, legal land settlements fall, and more
violent
conflicts
- Those responsible for slave labor continue to go unpunished
- Report points out faults at nuclear power plant
- A mess in the wake of privatization of Brazilian phone system
>SPECIAL: Terror in Paraná
>URGENT ACTION ALERT
NEWS BRIEFS
- Update on Diniz case
The last of the Abílio Diniz kidnappers who were still imprisoned here in
Brazil were finally transferred to their home countries on Friday, July
2,1999. The Argentinian brothers Humberto and Horácio Paz ended their
eleven day hunger strike on the same day, a strike they began as a protest
to the delay to their transfer. In Argentina, they will continue to be
imprisoned, although lawyers of human rights organizations say they will
immediately ask for "conditional liberty."
Source: Folha de São Paulo
July 3, 1999
- Agrarian reform: occupations rise, legal land settlements fall, and more
violent
conflicts
The number of land occupations this year have risen, while the number of
government- created settlements have fallen from previous years statistics.
The MST (Movement of rural workers Without Land) reported 149 occupations
from the beginning of the year until May. In 1997, there were a total of
173 land occupations for the entire year (1998 statistics were not
available). This year, the government's goal is to settle 85,000 families
(down from last year's goal of 100,000); of this number, only 13,000 have
been settled this year. The drop is due to a 47% cut in the budget for
agrarian reform. Also, of the R$1.4 billion budget, R$220 million will be
applied to the government's new solution to agrarian reform, the Banco da
Terra (Land Bank) which is being backed by the World Bank. (For a critique
of the Banco da Terra, see the back issue of News from Brazil, No. 358,
June 18, 1999: Land Reform and Poverty Alleviation Pilot Project.) This
means less money for things such as credit for those who have been recently
settled, making life on settlements even more difficult.
João Pedro Stedile, the national director of the MST, commented that
agrarian reform is going no where right now. He dates the current impasse
to October, 1998, when President Fernando Henrique Cardoso won the
election. "Since then, the government has been consumed with the idea of
applying neoliberal solutions to the question of agrarian reform," said
Stedile. The leader went on to critique the Banco da Terra, saying that in
this scheme, the owners of large tracts of land can fix prices and then
exercise the power to refuse transaction.
In other land news, a rural worker and a military policeman were wounded
in Panorama, São Paulo state, during an attempt by landless workers to
occupy an estate. Shots were fired by three hooded men who escaped the
scene of the crime. Mast (Movement of agricultural workers Without Land)
accused the security guards of the estate and the União Democrática
Ruralista (Rural Democratic Union). The president of the UDR, Tania
Tenorio de Farias said that the union gives "adequate juridical
orientation" to its members, which includes using arms to defend against
land "invasions."
In the state of Paraíba, one person died and three were wounded in a
conflict between rural workers and employees of the Tapuá land estate, 60
km outside of the capital city João Pessoa. Tapuá has been occupied twice
this year. The first time, settlers were expelled by police who had
judicial orders; the second time, the operators of the estate itself
expelled the workers. Since then, the workers have been camped next to the
estate where they have been growing crops for their own consumption. The
conflict occurred when 30 employees of the estate tried to destroy the
workers crops. No arrests have been made.
Source: Folha de São Paulo
July 4, 6 & 8, 1999
- Those responsible for slave labor continue to go unpunished
In the last four years, the government has freed 974 slave workers, but
not one land owner, not one "cat" (the one responsible for enticing
potential slaves), and not one security guard who has been responsible for
the crime has spent more than one month in jail. In fact, one land owner
involved in slave labor is currently negotiating a settlement for land that
was appropriated. He is hoping for R$2.5 million from the government for
the land, the same land that just two years ago he paid R$100 thousand!
"The sanctions now imposed on criminals are not sufficient to dissuade
slave labor," said Brother Henry Des Roziers of the Catholic Church's land
commission. For example, after being convicted, one land owner was told
that his punishment would be to give a food donation. Another land owner
was given a semi-open jail sentence (which usually means that the criminal
only spends the night at the jail). However, the impunity of such people
now is being threatened--the police of Goiânia recently arrested Jeova
Martins Pimentel, accused of submitting 185 workers to slave labor. The
time in prison he will get if convicted is unknown.
Source: Folha de São Paulo
July 5, 1999
- Report points out faults at nuclear power plant
Faults in the security system of the Angra 1 Nuclear Power Plant on the
southern coast of Rio de Janeiro caused 11 shut downs of the reactor in
less than one year. Six of these happened in the first four months of this
year. International regulations say that only one in four months in
acceptable. The report on Angra 1, filed by physicist Luiz Pinguelli Rosa,
says that the principle cause of the breakdowns is the lack of maintenance
of the system--parts that are old and worn out are not being replaced. For
example, Rosa found corrosion in the tubing of the vapor generators.
Another problem is that there was a reduction in the number of qualified
employees of the plant, and many current employees are unhappy with the
current administration of the plant. The director of relations of the
plant acknowledged the report, which is being sent to the National
Commission of Nuclear Energy, but said that none of the contents are alarming.
Source: Folha de São Paulo
July 7, 1999
- A mess in the wake of privatization of Brazilian phone system
The new system for making long-distance calls went into effect last
weekend, and since then between 33%-43% of long-distance calls have been
successful. The change in the dial-up system was a direct result of the
privatization of the national phone system which happened last July. The
change was necessary to support the entrance of new telephone companies and
to ensure competition between them. Now, dialers have a choice in long
distance carriers in some, but not all states. Of course, each company is
blaming the other or blaming the old system. In fact, Embratel, owned by a
US company, took out a very large ad on the front page of the Folha de São
Paulo paper, claiming not to have responsibility for the faults.
Ironically, the model for Embratel advertising who is currently in London
has been trying to call home this week, using Embratel, and has not had
success. The situation is so serious that President Fernando Henrique
Cardoso has issued an ultimatum: if the phone system is not fixed within
three days, companies will be fined R$40 million for each proven fault.
Source: Folha de São Paulo
July 8, 1999
SPECIAL: Terror in Paraná
A cold morning, around 3 a.m. The darkness is total, and in the camps all
around there is silence. A sensation of peace and quiet. Suddenly all hell
breaks loose! Hundreds of lights invade the night, shots, fierce dogs
barking, bombs explode in the darkness. Someone shouts "Come out, all of
you out, with your hands on your head! Let's go, what are you waiting for?
Set the dogs free. One behind the other. Hands on your heads, in line".
Crying children - one of them asks: "And now what are they going to do to us?"
Frightened women, tormented men - all get up to experience the worst
nightmare of their lives. With their hands on the back of their heads the
men are made to lie on the ground. The women and children guarded by the
police dogs, are brought away without even the chance of a cup of water.
Their camps are destroyed and set on fire, their belongings are robbed,
their dignity destroyed. The sun comes up, after what seems an infinity,
and all - especially the men - are put in line to be filmed, photographed
and questioned , and - human cattle - they are obliged to get into buses
and trucks. To fulfill the law. Law? Did someone say law?
This festival of horrors could have been happening in Kosovo. But no. It
all happened in Brazil, more precisely in the northwest of Paraná, during
the morning of the 21st of May 1999. The victims are the people of the MST
(Landless Movement) who are camped in the fazendas of North Querência and
region.
At least seven honorable workers were put in prison and ten were injured,
some with third degree burns, as was the case of Antônio Canaço. Not even
the old were spared. Geraldo José dos Campos, 84 years old, camped in
Cobrinco, tells us that "the police arrived about 1:30 a.m. throwing bombs.
They jumped the gate and kicked me so hard that I fell to the ground, then
they kicked me again while I was on the ground. I lay on the cold ground
for several hours. They told me to keep quiet, and then they demolished my
tent and made fun of the Movement." E.S.R.L, a seventeen year-old teenager
said "A soldier tripped me and I fell. They handcuffed my hands behind my
back, told me to get up and the same policeman shot fours time into to the
air. Afterwards they brought me to where the others were and another
policeman kicked me twice and hit me on the head with a stick..."
More than one thousand people (almost the entire adult population) of North
Querência, including the business people, supported and signed a letter to
the Governor of the State,Jaime Lerner, asking for the immediate release of
the farmers, the immediate withdrawal of all the troops from the town, and
an end to the persecution and evictions. The police detained Arilson
Pacheco Sausen while he was collecting signatures: "I was picked up while
collecting signatures. They took the paper out of my hands and told me
they were going to copy it to see who didn't like them in the city. Then
they took me to the police station." It is a clear violation of the law.
Nobody can be detained in this country for collecting signatures.
Scource: the Magazine "Caros Amigos", número 27, junho 1999.
URGENT ACTION ALERT
We are inviting people to write letters to the President, Governor of the
State of Paraná, the Judge, Minister of Justice, and secretary of Security,
condemning the police violence, the deaths of 15 leaders of the MST in the
State of Parana, demanding the release of those who are in prison -- their
only crime being members of the Movement who struggle for a piece of land,
while so much land lies idle in the hands of the few. Land Reform is long
overdue in Brasil.
The President,
Fernando Henrique Cardoso,
Palácio do Planalto,
70150-900 - Brasilia - DF
Brasil
Jaime Lerner
Governador do Estado do Paraná
Palácio Iguaçu
Praça N.Sna. da Salete s/n
80530-909 -Curitiba -PR
Brasil
Dra.Elizabeth Khater
Juiza da Comarca de Loanda
Rua Roma,920
87900-000 - Loanda - PR
Brasil
Renan Calheiros
Ministro da Justiça
Esplanada dos Ministérios
Bloco T, 4 andar
70150-900 - Brasilia - DF
Brasil
Cândido Martins de Oliveira
Secretário da Segurança Pública do Estado do Paraná
Palácio Iguaçu
Praça N.Sra. da Salete s/n
80530-909 - Curitiba - PR
Brasil
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