Number 444, August 3, 2001.
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In this week's issue:
>NEWS BRIEFS
- United States gains control of land in the Amazon
- Workers’ Party representative critiques decision to permit GMOs
- Pataxo Ha-ha-hae take repossession of ancestral land
- InterAmerican Commission condemns domestic violence situation in Brazil
- Documents reveals military’s violation of human rights
>A Message from the MST
- Freedom for MST Political Prisoners!
NEWS BRIEFS
- United States gains control of land in the Amazon
The United States and the Brazilian government recently signed an accord which grants US control of 620 square kilometers of land in the Amazon. Located on the land is the Central Launching of Alcantara, (CLA). The CLA, built by the Brazilian government for the launching of missiles at a cost of US$300 million, will be leased to the US at a cost of US$40 million per year. In the contract, Brazil loses practically all rights to the center. There will be no Brazilian inspections of the center, any activity that the Brazilian government does at the center must have the approval of the US, Brazilians will not be able to use any of the technology or equipment the US brings without US permission, and the US will be able to bring any type of equipment and material into the area without permission from or knowledge of the Brazilian government. Some fear that this is yet another step toward US domination of the Amazon.
Source: Marcel Frota, http://www.politicaglobal.com.br
July 23, 2001
- Workers’ Party representative critiques decision to permit GMOs
Federal Representative Adao Pretto of the Workers’ Party criticized the decision to allow genetically modified soybeans into the Brazilian market. (See last week’s News from Brazil, No. 443 for more details) According to Pretto, the decision is just one more incidence of the US imposing its will on other countries. "As the US is already totally contaminated [with GMOs], they also want to contaminate Brazilian products at whatever price, especially with the agro-giant Monsanto entering into the market." Pretto went on to emphasize that currently Brazil holds a competitive edge over the US in regards to soy products. Currently, Japan and Europe are big consumers of non-genetically modified soy, and Brazil is one of the last remaining countries able to fill the orders. He affirmed that the government’s decision will be met with resistance from small farmers in his state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Source: Linha Aberta
July 27, 2001
- Pataxo Ha-ha-hae take repossession of ancestral land
While the Supreme Court of Brazil continues to delay in rendering its judgment on rightful possession of piece of ancestral land of the Pataxo Ha-ha-haes (the decision has been delayed for 19 years now), this indigenous group has taken the matter into their own hands. Recently, they re-occupied 144 hectares of land "owned" by two ranchers. Seventy members of the group participated in the action, and were met with no resistance. In fact, there were only two workers found on the entire plot of land. The group is hoping that the action will force the government to survey the land and grant them legal title to the land.
Source: Linha Aberta
July 31, 20001
- InterAmerican Commission condemns domestic violence situation in Brazil
A report from the InterAmerican Commission of Human Rights declared that the Brazilian government is negligent in relation to domestic violence. The Commission condemned the Brazilian system for its tolerance of perpetrators of domestic violence. The report stated that government is without political will to change the situation, and therefore in violation of the American Convention of Human Rights and the InterAmerican Convention for the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of the Violence against Women.
Source: Sem Terra
June issue
- Documents reveals military’s violation of human rights
This week, the Folha de Sao Paulo obtain classified documents which reveal that the military, under Fernando Enrique Cardhouse’s government, has been using an intelligence-gathering policy that "infringes upon civil rights" in order to "maintain public order." The documents also reveal that the military considers social movements to be "adverse forces," and that popular movements such as the MST (Movement of Rural Workers Without Land) are equivalent to drug trafficking and organized crime--adversaries to the State which in certain instances can be "eliminated." The documents show that the "National Service of Information"--the spying organ of the former military dictatorship--is not extinct, and that intelligence operations are not under the control of the National Congress as they should be. The military did not comment on the case.
In other military-related news, excavations begin this week at a site in Parana where it is believed that members of the VPR (Popular Revolutionary Vanguard) were buried after their deaths by the military regime in 1974. Onofre Pinto, the former leader of the VPR, is thought to be buried at the site along with four other members of the group. Members of various human rights entities will be present at the excavation.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
August 2, 2001
A Message from the MST
- Freedom for MST Political Prisoners!
(Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra -- Movement of Landless Rural Workers)
(translated by Charlotte Casey - volunteer translator)
After 30 days of arbitrary imprisonment for Maria dos Anjos and João Batista and 20 days in jail for Eurival Martins (Totô), around noon today Appeals Court Judge Otávio Maciel of the Pará Justice Tribunal announced his decision revoking the imprisonment of these three colleagues. Raimundo Nonato and Jorge Neri, who had also been sentenced to prison, also had their judgement suspended. Today the three colleagues left for the city of Belem, where tomorrow they will give a collective interview in the office of the Pastoral Land Commission (Comissão Pastoral da Terra-- CPT.)
This happened because we mobilized our people. With many different types of actions, we forced the Appeals Court Judge and the "Agrarian Listener" of the INCRA and Ministry of Justice Gercino José to come to Marabá and intervene in the negotiations. In addition, pressure was put on Judge Aurora of Pará (who issued the arrest warrants) and there was a large mobilization of masses of workers who gathered in the "26 of March" camp (the old Cabaceiras ranch).
The freedom of these colleagues is the result of the huge mobilization of the MST, democratic-minded law-makers and human rights organizations in Brazil and around the world.
It was necessary for us to block the PA150 highway (and once again Secretary Sette Câmara sent his shock troops to resolve a social problem) and we were ready for more actions if there was any chance that the voice of our people would not be heard. Church people, intellectuals, teachers, students and artists, among many others, demonstrated firm solidarity and indignation at the arbitrary imprisonment to which the leadership of the MST was subjected, simply for the "crime" of struggling alongside the rural poor for a more just society.
We must break the hold of the huge estates and the arrogance of the federal and state governments who insist on treating the question of agrarian reform as a matter for the police. Agrarian reform is not accomplished by writing letters, as the government would prefer, much less with police force and arbitrary judicial rulings. Agrarian reform is accomplished by distributing land, freeing up credit, implementing justice so that the murderers of our people cannot remain unpunished, stimulating production and access to commerce, schools for our children, health, and leisure.
We call on all those in our country who struggle to not remain silent when faced with the government's threats of violence. On our part, we will remain strong until we can live in a country where our children will have a secure future, where our young people can live in the present building a decent future, where there are no longer 60 million people marginalized in terms of their basic rights, where there are no more huge estates, where we no longer have to watch our leaders be assassinated because they dedicated themselves to the cause of those in our country who are excluded.
We will continue fighting the murderous practices of the state, of the large landowners, of the bankers, of the IMF, all those who plunder the riches of our country, and finally we will be able to change the political and social direction of Brazil. Our dreams will be built with the sweat of our people
and neither the threat of prison or death will be able to silence us. To our brave colleagues who resisted the torture of prison, of cold and of fear, we promise to continue with you, stronger than ever, in this struggle for a more just, egalitarian, and worthy country.
Agrarian Reform: for a Brazil without Huge Estates
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