We publish an english translation of the report of the Solidarity Mission to Enilson Ribeiro Camp, in Rondonia state, that was published on A Nova Democracia. This area has been stage of many struggles that was reported by us and it is under threat of eviction by the state for a long time. The invitation to the mission can be found here.
According to supporters, the Solidarity Mission to Enilson Ribeiro Camp was received with loud applause and fireworks when they arrived at the camp on October 18. The Mission was called by the Brazilian Association of People's Lawyers (Abrapo) and the Brazilian Center for Solidarity to the Peoples (Cebraspo) and aimed to "prevent the state of Rondônia from being the scenery of another massacre of peasants," as announced in the invitation. As reported on a supporter's blog, the mission was attended by "lawyers, indigenous leaders, human rights activists, journalists, professors and academics who are committed to understanding and transforming the dramatic reality of agrarian conflicts in Rondônia, a state that is always on the top list of murder in the countryside".
The camp, where more than 1,000 people and 300 children live today, has a history of struggle, which was followed from its beginning by A Nova Democracia, that begins in 2016 when the occupation of Bom Futuro latifundium takes place and it is evicted in the same year after an intense police siege. The area was reoccupied on April 30, 2018 and the “people´s cut” [when the peasants divide the land among themselves by themselves, without answering to the old state] is already done. Today, “grilagem” [a very common process in Brazil, where the landlords fabricate fake documents claiming the ownership of land and it is recognized by the old state] and legal machinations of the landlords together with the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) demand the peasants to be once again evicted in order to open a selection process for the clients of the “agrarian reform”. The peasants, with the support of the Poor Peasants Leagie (LCP) and Abrapo, Cebraspo and other members of the Solidarity Mission, affirm that "the area already fulfills its social function" and "they understand that, with the expulsion of the landlord, the possession acknoweledgement and most of those who are already there fits within the profile of beneficiaries."
On the same day of the arrival of the Solidarity Mission, a public hearing took place in the Municipality of Seringueira, which debated questions about the dispute between peasants and landlords in the area. The audience was accompanied by hundreds of peasants from the Enilson Ribeiro Camp who carried out a combative demonstration in front of the Deputy Chamber together with the members of the Mission.
About the audience supporter Luciana Oliveira states that "the Mission of Solidarity witnessed the audience that was almost aborted, because the incra national ombudsman would have been warned about the possibility of being held hostage."
A peasant who did not want to be identified denounced the justification given by the ombudsman: "It is terrorism that makes us posing as aggressive people, like bandits. We came here to dialogue, not to do what they do with us, to act with violence to force negotiation. "
The meeting was scheduled to be held on November 28 in Brasilia between a peasants' commission and representatives of INCRA.
Until then, the expulsion by judicial order is suspended.
