MST manages to stall investigation that investigated aggressions in Bahia

An inquiry conducted by the Civil Police of Bahia that investigates a violent attack attributed to militants of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) against two families that diverged from the movement will complete, in July, two years and three months without resolution.

The act of violence took place in April 2021 within the Fábio Henrique settlement, located in the municipality of Prado, in southern Bahia, and resulted in the expulsion of families from the place where they had lived for 15 years. The region, where state and national leaders of the MST reside, is ruled with an iron fist by activists and has been the scene of several episodes of violence.

In October 2021, the People’s Gazette exclusively showed the situation of the families attacked and expelled from the settlement. At the time, the Civil Police had informed that the investigation had been withdrawn from the Prado police station, where the attacks took place, but it was still ongoing.

After more than twenty months, the report contacted the Civil Police again asking for an update on the case. According to the institution, the investigation remains open, “in the process of being concluded after carrying out diligences and hearings”. “Details will not be released at this time,” says a statement sent to the report.

understand the case

According to reports contained in the inquiry, on the night of the attack, around 120 people linked to the MST – several of them armed with revolvers, pistols, shotguns and machetes – arrived at the place where the families of Vanuza Santos de Souza and Valmir da Conceição Oliveira lived, who they lived from agriculture and were directors of the Association of Rural Producers in the settlement.

With the new Incra policy that was in force in the previous government, of Jair Bolsonaro, the volume of title concessions given to settlers, a measure that guaranteed legal ownership of land to producers, increased. As a result, farmers from various settlements in the country began to organize themselves to regularize their lands in order to be able to receive the titles.

The MST, however, which exerts great influence in most agrarian reform settlements, is opposed to this “emancipation” of families. Rural producers who live in these areas under the control of the movement claim that they are obliged to contribute financially to the movement, participate in political demonstrations and dedicate a day a week to work in the gardens of the group’s leaders.

In southern Bahia, in several settlements where producers distanced themselves from the social movement to formalize the land, there were brutal conflicts, with records of several families being expelled by MST activists.

In the case of Vanuza and Valmir, both were expelled along with all their family members – in all, seven adults and an eight-year-old child. Before that, adults were tied up and beaten. Afterwards, they were placed in pickup trucks and left at different points in the municipality. The victims, who even had personal documents and bank cards taken by the criminals, were prevented from returning to the settlement under death threats. Houses were vandalized and goods stolen – even animals were taken by criminals.

Investigation was coming to an end when inquiry was withdrawn from the police station

When filing a complaint at the Prado police station, the victims mentioned 12 names of people linked to the movement whom they recognized during the attack. Among those accused are national and regional leaders of the MST.

The investigation was advancing rapidly and several of those named in the inquiry had already given testimony. However, still in 2021, MST lawyers opened a procedure in the Internal Affairs of the Civil Police requesting that the investigation be forwarded to the headquarters of the Coordination, in Teixeira de Freitas. Since then, the inquiry remains open.

The victims of the attacks believe that the political power that MST leaders exercise in the state prevents the investigation of this and other cases of violence against settlers that are not aligned with the interests of the social movement.

Victim of the criminals was invited to testify at the MST CPI

Vanuza was recently invited by parliamentarians to testify at the MST CPI, which began in April in the Chamber of Deputies and aims to investigate land invasions by the MST, which had a significant increase this year, as well as its objectives and source of funding .

To the report, she said that, since being expelled from the settlement, she started to live in a family home, in Porto Seguro, which is more than 200 kilometers from the old house that was vandalized.

“The inquiry did not make any progress, it was forgotten. The delegate does not give any satisfaction. My hope now is only the CPI. According to the information, a team will come to monitor what has been happening in the extreme south of Bahia. I am hoping that something will come out, that justice will be done, ”she said.

Valmir and his family moved to Teixeira de Freitas, 80 kilometers from Prado. Just like Vanuza, he left behind the family’s only means of support, which were agricultural activities.

At the beginning of last year, an elderly couple who were friends of the rural producer, who also lived in the Fábio Henrique settlement and participated in the association, had their house completely vandalized (see here) by militants. The elderly man, aged 67, was beaten and forced to leave the house at dawn with his wife, aged 68, with only the clothes on his back. According to the couple’s report, during the attacks, the criminals stated that the couple was passing on information about the settlement to Valmir.

This week, the report contacted the farmer. By telephone, he lamented the delay in concluding the investigations and said he no longer has hope for justice in relation to the episode. “For me it’s in the past, I don’t even want to talk about it anymore. He finished. There is no justice in Brazil for this ”, he vented.

Positioning of the MST

A People’s Gazette contacted the MST office and made room for a position regarding the accusations of involvement in the attacks reported in this article. There was no response until the closure of the report.