MST coexists with Bolsonarism and evangelicals in Carajás – 01/27/2024 – Power

On one side, a bus stop with the symbol of the MST (Landless Rural Workers Movement). On the other, a livestock auction space and a shooting club.

This is the scene for anyone who enters the 17 de Abril settlement, built after the massacre in Eldorado do Carajás (PA), a community that sees an exodus of youth and the growth of Bolsonarism and evangelical churches.

On April 17, 1996, the Military Police murdered 19 movement activists who were protesting on the PA-150 highway. To date, only 2 police officers out of 155 have ended up convicted.

The episode served to catapult the image of the movement inside and outside Brazil — images of the case illustrate the famous book “Terra” (Companhia das Letras), by photographer Sebastião Salgado.

The number of deaths is still questioned by those who were there that day. “Where are the women? The children? There were 3,000 people in the middle of a crossfire… where did they end up?”, says Maria Zelzuíta Oliveira de Araújo, 59.

Born in Piauí, she traveled around Brazil as a single mother and heard that she should give her children to a family with a man. Today, she is one of the main leaders of 17 de Abril, one of the pioneers, as its founders are called, and her family is already in the third generation of settlers.

The PM’s attack took place on the so-called S curve of the PA-150 highway, where the MST was holding a camp. Currently, there is a memorial, a monument and a chapel at the site. On the other side of the road, there is a gas station that belongs to the owner of the auction space and the shooting club.

“We only talk because we have to, so we don’t forget. It’s a memory that needs to pass from father to son, from son to grandson”, says Raimundo dos Santos Gouveia, 69. “A piece of head was left scattered on the floor”, recalls Maria .

Medical reports indicate point-blank shots, shots to the head and stab wounds. “To this day, people still come here looking for relatives and acquaintances. We don’t know if these people died, if they never came back. So, counted, there are 19 [mortos]but…”, says Natanael Limirio da Silva, 56.

After the massacre, Fazenda Macaxeira was transformed into a settlement.

After 28 years, the village’s farm and refinery are abandoned. Residents claim that it was a “shut up” given by the public authorities — they gave the equipment, but did not teach how to use it.

On the other hand, the health center and, mainly, the settlement’s school are references in the region.

Building an educational structure is a priority for the movement from the camps, a task accomplished “when we cut the wire and entered the occupation”, says Wanderlan Oliveira de Araújo, 30, son of Maria Zelzuíta. “It’s a message to society that we have a project that goes beyond the conquest of land.”

In the case of Carajás, the school was built after the movement organized protest classes blocking the railway and the S curve on the highway, the location of the murders.

“We included the massacre in the curriculum, because the school itself, being within MST territory, is the result of a process of struggle, of resistance”, says Wanderlan.

Today, the movement helps train doctors, lawyers, agronomists and teachers, as is your case.

“Agrarian reform is not just a hoe on the land. It understands that the wood that gives the handle of the hoe also gives the guitar and the pencil. It means working the land, having the right to culture, leisure, study”, says Laurindo Ferreira da Costa, 54, pioneer of the movement and who writes and recites cordels.

Wanderlan states that he is one of the few of his generation who found work in the settlement and is still involved in activism. As young people graduate, they also need, in many cases, to leave the settlement to find work.

Natanael remembers, for example, that, of his three daughters, one is an agronomist and works in the settlement, but the other two, a doctor and a lawyer, graduated with the help of the movement and work abroad.

“Before we fought for land, now we fight for education, health, technical assistance for soil management, intensification of production. For another model of society that is more fair, egalitarian, with better living conditions for residents. And the young man goes for a walk through these processes and engaging to a greater or lesser extent”, says Wanderlan.

He says that even those who leave still contribute to the movement, whether by defending the MST in other places or simply through their life path.

“If before the youth that occupied [a curva do S] They had the prospect of conquering the land, and they succeeded, today’s young people have other perspectives, the land is already with the family. Sometimes it’s a motorcycle, a cell phone, money for the weekend. There is a cultural aspect that influences today’s young people.”

The report witnessed a series of houses for sale, and the number of arrivals — people who entered the settlement after its creation — is increasing, according to reports. “A lot of people came in from outside, who don’t speak our language”, says Maria Zelzuíta.

Laurindo agrees, but considers: “They are also workers, they also need to have somewhere to support their family.”

The new members boosted Bolsonarism, but not just them. “Bolsonarism doesn’t like the MST, that’s true”, admits Miguel Pontes Silva, 60, who held coordination positions in the settlement and today defends former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

Miguel is one of the survivors of the massacre: “I’m alive because the police officer must have been a believer and didn’t want to kill me. He shot me on the ground and ricocheted off my leg. If he had been a bad police officer, he would have killed me, he was very close to me”, he says .

His criticism of the movement is that, according to him, the stance weakens when it is necessary to face left-wing parties, such as the PT.

“Everything I have I owe to the movement. But in the past we occupied the highway, demonstrated in front of the city hall. The movement, whether it was a right-wing or a left-wing administration, had to treat it the same way”, says he, who joined the militancy after leaving the mine.

During the visit, the Sheet it found three Bolsonaro stickers stuck to houses and none of Lula. In 2022, the PL candidate surpassed the PT candidate in the city of Eldorado do Carajás with 50.5% of the valid votes.

If the MST is historically linked to the Catholic Church, another strong influence on 17 de Abril is that of the evangelical current, which has two temples in the village.

“I see [separação entre] left and right, not between MST and the evangelical church”, says Natanael, who from a young age was part of movements fighting for land, founded the settlement and also his first and main evangelical church.

Affiliated to the PT, he understands that, if there are differences on issues such as abortion or LGBTQIA+ issues, there is convergence in the fight for land.

“I’m a settler, my children are settlers, my wife studied at school, graduated and is now a teacher there. I’ve been pastor of the evangelical church in the settlement for 21 years and, thank God, I’ve never had a problem with anyone”, adds Samuel Limirio da Silva, 62, brother of Nathanael.

He does not claim to be a formal member of the MST, but remembers that his church is active in the protests and that there are several members of the congregation who held positions in the movement’s association or were even elected councilor with the support of both institutions — such as Haroldinho from 17 , elected by PL in 2016 and who now wants to return to PT.

The dispute that exists, according to Wanderlan, is symbolic and cultural. Not only because of the cattle auction at the entrance to the settlement and the gas station in front of the chestnut tree monument, but also because of the presence of country music at local festivals.

“They try to decant us, we try to resist. We end up directly or indirectly consuming this [a cultura do agro]whether here at fairs, on TV, on the radio.”

The fear, however, is that the strength of agribusiness, the arrival of the Bolsonarism that identifies with it, the youth exodus and, for some, also the conservative values ​​of the evangelical church, will converge to weaken the movement and forget history. of April 17th.

“There are some today who don’t care about knowing, they have no idea what the price of this land here was, they don’t even know that 19 people died for it to be conquered”, says Nathanael.

Every year the MST organizes an educational event on the S curve.

“The pioneers are attempting to pass the baton. This process is complex for us, because reality is metamorphosing. It’s one thing to talk to a person who experienced the massacre, like my mother, and understand her disposition to fight. Another is a young man, who is more attuned to other social and cultural practices”, says Wanderlan.

Chronology of the massacre

Occupation (5.mar.1996)
Macaxeira Farm, in Curionópolis (PA), is occupied by 1,100 landless families

March (April 16, 1996)
Farmers, on the march to Belém, block the PA-150 highway, in Eldorado do Carajás (PA)

Massacre (April 17, 1996)
Police operation to unblock the highway ends with the death of 19 homeless people and 60 injuries

Report (May 8, 1996)
Judicial report shows that the landless people were killed with shots at close range, in the back or head, and with blows from sharp weapons

Judgment (16.Aug.99)
Jury Court acquits three PM officers involved in the case, Colonel Mário Colares Pantoja, Major José Maria Pereira de Oliveira and Captain Raimundo José Almendra Lameira

Annulment (April 2000)
Court of Justice of Pará annuls judgment

New jury (May and June 2002)
New trial begins. Colonel Pantoja and Major Oliveira are sentenced to 228 and 158 years in prison. The jury cleared the others involved.

Supremo (September and October 2005)
STF grants habeas corpus to Colonel Pantoja and subsequently extends the decision to Major Oliveira

Arrests (May 7, 2012)
Court of Pará orders the arrest of Colonel Pantoja and Major Oliveira

House arrest (October 2018)
Pantoja and Oliveira are now serving their sentences at home

Death (11.Nov.2020)
Pantoja dies in Belém from complications arising from Covid-19