MST: government will protect private property, says minister – 03/04/2023 – Politics

The Minister of Agrarian Development, Paulo Teixeira, says that the invasion of the MST (Movement of Landless Rural Workers) on the farms of Suzano Celulose, in the south of Bahia, was an isolated case. He also says that the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) will protect private property.

“The Ministry of Agrarian Development will act in accordance with the Constitution, protect private property and demand compliance with the social function of property,” he said in an interview with Sheet. “If it does not fulfill the social function of the property, it will be expropriated for agrarian reform purposes.”

Teixeira also says that he did not expect this attitude from the movement. “Now it’s up to me to help overcome this conflict and it’s also up to me to establish preventive mechanisms for new conflicts,” he said.

In the campaign, President Lula said that the MST only invaded unproductive land. Mr. did you talk to him about the episode in Bahia?

I didn’t talk. In the first place, President Lula said that the MST is dedicated to organizing cooperatives. That is true. [Em relação a] this occupation that took place in Bahia, I was approached by the company Suzano asking me to mediate with the MST. So I volunteered and asked why there wasn’t a negotiation. She said she was up for a negotiation, as long as they withdrew.

I called the MST and they said that the occupation was due to the interruption of an agreement signed between the MST and Fibria in 2010 —and interrupted in 2016. What the MST alleged is that, in those years, Fibria would have been bought by Suzano and no longer received them. This action by the MST would have taken place with the aim of restoring dialogue.

Do you consider this action offensive?

I myself, when I called the MST, asked them to leave the area so that we could resume dialogue with Suzano.

Do you think there is still an impasse?

They [MST] they claimed that, after sending numerous messages, letters, to Suzano, they never got any answers. There was the moment of this conflict. Suzano, when looking for me… [eu] I volunteered to promote dialogue. We leave an indicative date of next Wednesday [8], in Brasilia. And they demanded that the MST withdraw from the area so that they could sit at the table.

What stage is the exit from the farm at?

We are waiting for a response from the MST to schedule the meeting. The meeting will only take place after they withdraw from this area that was occupied. In fact, after the occupation, Suzano decided to resume dialogue.

So was the movement successful?

Resuming dialogue is not, in itself, the best result. The best result must be the implementation of the agrarian reform program. Considering that, if we are in the role of mediators, as mediators I cannot judge who made a mistake in this process.

The two sides have an accusation box in relation to the other. It is up to me to help overcome this conflict and establish mechanisms to prevent new conflicts.

Former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) used the MST as a weapon against Lula. Does the invasion give ammunition to bolsonaristas?

Since the FHC government, even before, in the Sarney, Itamar government, there have been land occupations. The fact is that we need to accelerate the agrarian reform program. The Bolsonaro government has paralyzed the entire process of acquiring areas for land reform. He was a frontal enemy of the program. There were many decisions in which the Justice had already ruled in favor of acquiring the areas, and they withdrew from that process.

There is a damming of the agrarian reform program. And not only damming, the Bolsonaro government encouraged violence and the use of weapons in the countryside.

By accelerating the agrarian reform program, [queremos] establish conflict resolution mechanisms that can solve them in a way that does not have traumas in society, that does not use violence.

In the campaign, Bolsonaro insisted that Lula’s election would represent the return of violence in the countryside. Does the MST action reinforce this discourse?

I don’t think so. What reinforced the violence in the countryside was his policy, Bolsonaro. Many rural workers were killed, indigenous people were killed, he helped to arm the people of the countryside. This is violence. Regarding the fact that occurred the day before yesterday, we are taking action to overcome the conflict. I do not know that violence was used, that anyone was hit [na ação do MST na Bahia].

How should the government position itself in the face of invasions of private and productive areas?

We want to speed up the agrarian reform program, speed up assistance to families in the countryside. We have already constituted a conflict resolution nucleus. We want to reduce conflicts in the countryside in Brazil and implement the program to support family farming. And, in our opinion, phenomena like these will decrease due to the acceleration of agrarian reform.

How do you assess the possibility of punishment? Would it be pedagogical?

In my opinion, in the future, when there are conflicts of this nature, I will keep the ministry open so that dialogue takes place before any type of action.

But if there is an action, should the movement be punished in case of occupation of productive land with fines, budget cuts?

The agrarian reform has a constitutional orientation so that it can happen in unproductive lands. It will not happen on productive land. So, I don’t see that this MST action has the objective of transforming this land into land for agrarian reform. It was a conflict, according to them, due to the lack of dialogue. What I want is to help resolve this conflict and create jurisprudence to prevent new conflicts that can be resolved without this type of stress.

Would you say that the MST is not legal in this Suzano case?

There is already a judicial decision ordering them to withdraw from the area and also establishing a fine for the future. This definition is up to the Court. It is up to us to reduce this degree of conflict, resolve this situation that is badly stopped and create prevention mechanisms.

Do you consider the occupation of unproductive areas to be legitimate as a form of pressure for agrarian reform?

The Constitution says that property has to fulfill the social function. When there is an indication of property that is not fulfilling its social function, it is the duty of the State to expropriate it for the purposes of agrarian reform.

What we are going to do is try to speed up this process. We will also try to collect areas from large tax debtors of the Brazilian State, which will be able to promote the donation in payment. At the same time, we want these families to be able to get involved in a sustainable agricultural practice, producing products without pesticides, that they can use modern agricultural techniques, equipment for the cultivation of these areas. That they also have the capacity to feed the Brazilian people, which is President Lula’s great challenge.

Does the government intend to expropriate areas invaded by the landless?

The agrarian reform program can only expropriate land that is not fulfilling its social function, whose productivity is low and at levels lower than those required by law. Therefore, for there to be expropriation, we have to comply with the law and the Constitution. We’re going to do it. We will comply with the law and the Constitution, we will not distance ourselves from these legal parameters.

Now, it is a crime, in a country like ours, for cases to go through the courts for seven, eight years, for the State to win at all stages and, when it reaches the final stage, for the State to withdraw from the process. It is a crime for so many people waiting for land for agrarian reform, living in unhealthy conditions, in roadside camps, it is a crime for the State to give up these processes for ideological reasons.

Did the Michel Temer (MDB) government also do this?

There was a slowdown in the Temer government and a paralysis in the Bolsonaro government. The Brazilian Constitution protects property, but requires the fulfillment of its social function. the MDA [Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrário] will act in accordance with the Constitution, protect private property and demand the fulfillment of the social function of property. If it does not fulfill the social function of the property, it will be expropriated for agrarian reform purposes.

President Lula owes a historic debt to the landless with his promise to update the productivity indices of the agrarian reform. Will this be fulfilled now?

All the goals that President Lula has set in his program he will fulfill.

What is the target for family settlements for this year?

There was a disruption of the agrarian reform program in Brazil. Now we are rebuilding the ministry to carry out strategic planning, surveying areas, the cost of acquiring these areas.

Were you surprised by the occupation in Bahia? Did you expect a truce?

I read an interview with João Paulo Rodrigues, from the MST, in which he said that this measure was an isolated action. I didn’t expect it and he himself, in the interview, says it was an isolated action. It was not an orchestrated action by the MST.

Did you feel betrayed? Do you think they gave up a pre-existing channel?

The doors are open for the movements. In this case, Suzano was the one to look for, which also shows that we are available to all Brazilian society.

There is an effort by the government to approach agribusiness. Do actions like this undermine this effort?

I will report again to the interview I read with João Paulo Rodrigues in which he says it was an isolated case. He has already limited this action to an isolated case. The good reader, any opinion-forming reader of Brazilian society, will understand that this action was an isolated action, that it is not a matter of MST policy.

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Paulo Teixeira, 61

Graduated in Law from USP, he was elected for the fifth term as a federal deputy for São Paulo before being invited by Lula to head the Ministry of Agrarian Development. He was a state deputy in São Paulo from 1994 to 2000, as well as a councilor in the city of São Paulo from 2004 to 2007.