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FROM BRAZIL supplied by SEJUP (Servico Brasileiro de Justica e Paz). Number 521, November 19, 2004 In this edition of News from Brazil: Eldorado dos Carajás Massacre and Impunity Under the watchful eye of Brazilian society and the international community, the Justice Tribunal of Pará will decide on November 19, the future trial of the massacre of Eldorado dos Carajás. On this date, the tribunal will decide whether the State Public Ministry has a case in seeking a new jury for the 128 police officers who were absolved in the massacre. The defense is also seeking the absolution of the two officers, Coronel Pantoja and Major Oliveira, who were condemned for the assassination of the 19 landless workers in June of 2002. The massacre at Eldorado do Carajás occurred on April 17, 1996 in the south of the state of Pará. It is the most serious assassination of peasants and impunity in the last 40 years of Pará history. Two legal judgments have been issued in the case. The first was in 1999, when all of the accused were absolved. This mobilized the civil society of Brazil and international organizations to insist on the annulment of the decision. The second judgment occurred in 2002, where two police commanders were condemned; however, they continue to be free. These last seven years of impunity, from 1996-2004, repeat the history of impunity which marks the trajectory of crimes of the large land owners in the state of Pará. The slowness of the justice system, damaged by the involvement of the military and civil police in the crimes, as well as the bias in judgements in the jury of 1999, favored the lack of justice and impunity. One hundred and forty-two (142) rural workers have been assassinated in the last 10 years in the state of Pará. Combined with this is an alarming incidence of impunity (98%). Three men involved in the assassination of the labor leader, Bartolomeu Moraes da Silva, are in jail awaiting judgment in Brasilia, but all of the others involved have not been judged and continue to be free. Another alarming statistic refers to the number of those who are free even though they ordered or carried out assassinations of rural workers because of the ineptitude of the police. However, when landless workers are involved in occupations and encampments, the police are much more agile and efficient in completing their work, confirming their partiality and bias in land conflicts in Pará. In the last 10 years, almost 650 rural workers have been imprisoned and maintained in cells in the worst human conditions, a majority because they occupied unproductive or illegally titled land. The most recent and emblematic case is that of the rural workers who were arrested in Anapu on February 27, 2004. These workers were interrogated only after their 200th day in jail, a fact that the judge found extremely normal in the legal process, and in her affirmation that there is no moroseness in the justice system. While rural workers continue to be arrested and jailed, there are at least 29 assassins who are fugitives. Many of them are accused of murder of labor leaders and rural workers. Judges in the state have taken a clear stand against the movements of rural workers by mobilizing in giving court orders for the speedy reintegration of land ownership to the large land owners, indicating the close connection between the police and the justice system. These actions could cause at least 8,000 families to be landless and dispossessed. Agrarian reform, justice and peace in the rural areas should be more important than a “logic of development” that favors violence and impunity as well as an economy of rural businesses that concentrate the land and wealth, investing in an extensive monoculture and breeding of cattle as well as large mineral and timber projects that degrade the environment. This paradigm generates enclaves of poverty for the local population and enclaves of “development” primarily built upon the exportation of products that reproduce the capitalist model of production. The cost of all of this is the degradation of the Amazon and the impoverishment and misery of the people. We call for Agrarian Reform with justice and peace in the rural areas. No more massacres! Signed by MST (Landless Movement), CPT (Catholic Church Pastoral Commission on Land), Social Pastorals of the Bishop´s Conference, The Academic Center for Rights, Youth Pastoral, Brazilian Indigenous Councils, Religious Conferences of Brazil, and the National Network of Popular Lawyers. Source: MST website and Brasil de Fato, November 2004 Urgent Action: Support the MST and Demand Justice for the Victims of the Massacre at Eldorado dos CarajásOn April 17, 1996, 2,500 Landless Workers Movement (MST) activists marched outside the small village of Eldorado dos Carajás in Brazil. The Brazilian military police confronted them. The police, who did not wear identification or carry registered weapons, opened fire, killing 19 marchers--including a three-year-old child--in what became known as the Massacre in Eldorado dos Carajás.The MST lawyers and Public Prosecutor proved the first trial in 1999 was fundamentally flawed (evidence had been tampered with, and there were other inconsistencies). The MST withdrew their involvement from the second trial, protesting the judge's competence and questioning his impartiality. Finally, years later and after much legal wrangling, the appeal is expected to be heard. The Court of Justice of Pará State will decide whether to grant an appeal in the lawsuit investigating the participation of military policemen during the massacre in Eldorado dos Carajás. The appeal hearing will be held in the 2nd Criminal Chamber of Justice in the state of Pará and will be conducted by the High Court judge Romulo Nunes. We understand that this injustice and impunity can only be changed through pressure from public opinion and organized civil society. We call on people, organizations, diplomats, artists, intellectuals, all those dedicated to justice to send letters, faxes, emails and declarations to the authorities listed bellow demanding the end of impunity in the state of Para, supporting THE CONVICTION OF THE TWO POLICE OFFICERS FOUND GUILTY IN THE 2002 TRIAL and asking that the other police officers who were found innocent be sent TO A NEW TRIAL. Please send this correspondence to the addresses below: Prezado/a NAME OF OFFICIAL, Eu, YOUR NAME, quero expressar a minha esperança que o julgamento dos responsãveis e participantes do massacre de Eldorado dos Carajãs em 1996 seja justo, e exigo o fim da impunidade nas crimes do latifúndio. Como uma pessoa comprometida com a causa de justiça, me preocupa que a maioria dos responsãveis pelo massacre de Eldorado dos Carajãs, que deixou morto 19 pessoas, nunca foram punidos. O Tribunal de Justiça de Parã tem a responsabilidade de proteger os direitos humanos. Exigo que seja mantido a sentença que condenou Mario Colares Pantoja e Raimundo Jose Almendra Lameira, e que os demais policiais absolvidos sejam sometidos a novo julgamento. Esta é uma oportunidade para acabar com a injustiça e impunidade que prejudica a luta por justiça social e a paz. YOUR NAME Dear __________, I, ___________, would like to express my hope that the trial for those responsible and those who participated in the 1996 massacre at Eldorado dos Carajãs be fair and just, and I demand an end to the impunity for crimes committed in land disputes. As a person who is dedicated to justice, it concerns me that the majority of those responsible for the massacre at Eldorado dos Carajãs, which killed 19 people, were never punished. It is the High Court's responsibility to protect human rights. I demand that the guilty verdict for Mario Colares Pantoja e Raimundo Jose Almendra Lameira be maintained, and that the police who were acquitted be tried by a new jury. This is an opportunity to end the injustice and impunity that hinder the struggle for social justice and peace. Send to: Senhor Luis Inacio Lula da Silva - President of Republic Praça dos Três Poderes Palacio do Planalto, 3o andar CEP: 70.150-900 Brasília - DF, Brasil Fax: 61 322 - 2314 email: pr@planalto.gov.br President of the Court of Justice in Para High Court Judge Maria de Nazareth Brabo de Sousa Tomazia Perdigão, 310 - CEP: 66015-260 - Belém - Para Fax: 91 212 - 2922 email: des.maria.brabo@tj.pa.gov.br Minister of Justice - Marcio Thomaz Bastos Esplanada dos Ministérios - Bloco T - 4o Andar - Sala 400 CEP: 70064-900 - Brasília/DF Fax: 61 322 - 6817 email: gabinetemj@mj.gov.br Special Secretary of Human Rights - Nilmario Miranda Esplanada dos Ministérios - Bloco T - 4o Andar - Sala 422 CEP: 70064-900 - Brasília/DF Fax: 61 223 - 2260 email: nilmario.miranda@sedh.gov.br or direitoshumanos@sedh.gov.br Please forward a copy to the Human Rights Sector of the MST: Alameda Barão de Limeira, 1232 Campos Elíseos, SP/SP CEP: 01202-002 fax: (11) 3361-3866 Update on 2004 Municipal Elections In spite of a number of important losses, the PT (Workers´Party) advanced in the 2004 elections. The PT elected mayors of 9 of 26 capital cities but lost in São Paulo and Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul). For Porto Alegre, this was the end of 16 years of PT administration. In spite of increasing the number of PT mayors in capital cities beginning in 2005, the PT had fewer voters (17 million) than the PSDB, Brazilian Social Democratic party (26 million). According to José Genoino, the national president of the Workers´ Party, the PT won mayoral elections in strategic cities such as Contagem (Minais Gerais), Londrina (Paraná), Niteroi and Nova Iguaçu (Rio de Janeiro), and Diadema, Osasco and Santo André (São Paulo). Unsupported by the PT, Luizianne Lins was elected PT mayor in Fortaleza by 56% of the vote. Her campaign was one that had the least resources and little support of the Workers´Party, very different from Marta Suplicy in São Paulo who spent millions of dollars and was defeated. Luizianne is connected to the more left wing of the PT and won the mayorship with the support of militant volunteers. Source: Folha de São Paulo, November 4, 2004, Brasil de Fato, November 10, 2004 The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is cited. |
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