In the morning of May 24, The Genocidal Brazilian State – through its repression apparatus DECA (Agrarian Conflict Police Station) in an operation with 30 civil and military police officers – murdered 10 peasants and injured other 14. The police alleged there was a shooting, but most of the shots were made on the nape and back of the peasants – evidences of execution.
Santa Lucia farm, which is a land illegally conceded by the state to Honorato Babinski by “squatting”, now owned by his family was the stage of the massacre. The police officers arrived shooting and gave no chance for escaping. The murdered peasants were Hércules Santos Oliveira, Ronaldo Pereira de Souza, Antônio Pereira Milhomem, Bruno Henrique Pereira Gomes, Regivaldo Pereira da Silva, Wedson Pereira da Silva Milhomem, Nelson Souza Milhomem, Clebson Pereira Milhomem, Oseir Rodrigues da Silva and Jane Júlia de Oliveira, she was a leader from the association who represented the peasants in the area, she was being threatened weeks before by the head of DECA Valdivino Miranda da Silva Júnior. Survivors told that the peasants were tortured before execution and there were no resistance from the peasants in the occasion.
The report of A Nova Democracia was in Pau D´arco some days after collecting interviews, which resulted in a documentary, Blood and Land – backstage of Pau D´Arco slaughter, which was shown in many cities in Brazil and was very important to denounce the crimes of the State in Para.
Around 100 peasants, under the banner of the Poor Peasants League, have retaken the area in Santa Lucia farm on June 13th. A huge demonstration marking one month after the butcher was held in Redenção denouncing the State crimes and defending the right over the land.
Peasants organizing Jane Júlia Camp in Pau D´Arco
Demonstration in Redenção
On the night of July 7th, Rosenildo Pereira de Almeida, 44, Known as “Negão” a peasant leader on the area was murdered. Many persecutions and threats are made against the peasants, but they are not intimidated and are firm in defence of their rights over the land.
Comrade Rosenildo in the retaking of Santa Lucia farm
This region, south of Para was stage of another slaughter in 1996 in Eldorado dos Carajás and also in the 70s against the Araguaia Guerrilla. Brazilian Old State is formed on the basis of semifeudality and semicoloniality, the Burocratic bourgeoisie and landlords colluded and serving imperialism, mainly Yankee. These episodes illustrate how the collusion between the various apparatus of the state: police, media and opportunism in order to crush the popular movement.
The struggle for land in Brasil, starting from the European settling the colony more than 500 years ago never stopped, and the indigenous people, quilombola and peasants heroically give their blood for the right over the land. Canudos, Contestado, Porecatu, Caldeirão, Pau de Colher, Trombas and Formosoare some well-known peasant uprisings that shows that this struggle cannot be stopped definitively. In 1995 The Battle of Santa Elina marked a new moment on the peasants movement in the country, showing that the struggle for agrarian reform must be transformed into the struggle for agrarian revolution, because only through a revolution, a New Democracy revolution, based on the workers-peasants alliance can these oppressed peoples finally own their piece of land to work on and conquer freedom.
Land for the Tiller!
Death to the Landlords!
Honour and Glory to the People Heroes!
