MST settler takes over INCRA unit in Petrolina (PE) – 05/02/2023 – Mônica Bergamo

A militant of the MST (Landless Movement) for more than 30 years, Edilson Barros de Lima will assume this Wednesday (3) the command of Incra (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) in Petrolina (PE). The expectation is that the Sertão Special Advanced Unit will once again be a regional superintendence of the agency.

Edilson lives in the Normandy Settlement in Caruaru (PE), on the former Normandy Farm, invaded by the MST on May 1, 1993. The location houses the Paulo Freire Center, the largest training space for the MST in the Northeast.

In an interview with the column, the new head of the unit says he is already in the region visiting settlements and public bodies. A survey of the situation must be delivered to the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture for subsequent presidential decree to reopen the superintendence.

“We have President Lula’s commitment, which has already been passed on to the minister [do Desenvolvimento Agrário, Paulo Teixeira] and for the president of Incra [Cesar Aldrighi]that this unit becomes a superintendence again”, says Barros.

The Medium São Francisco superintendence was extinguished in 2020 by the then Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Tereza Cristina, during the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). “This has been causing several inconveniences for family farming and also for the region, because there are fewer resources for the work. Our expectation is to carry out the restructuring”, says Barros.

In the next few days, the new chief should visit public, federal and state agencies in the region, as well as city halls, which without superintendence ended up taking responsibility for the settlements. Currently, the municipalities only have the support of the state superintendence of Incra, headquartered in Recife, 713 km from Petrolina.

Barros also indicates that the return of the superintendence should again cover the reach of the unit for municipalities in Bahia, becoming interstate.

The Petrolina unit, together with the national agrarian ombudsman, should be responsible for registering the families that invaded the Embrapa Semi-Arid area and left the place after an agreement with the government, on the last 23rd. of the region and the sending of tarpaulins and basic baskets to serve the group while the new lands are not released.

The appointment of a member of the MST to the post is seen by Lima as a sign of dialogue from the government, especially after the uneasiness generated by the invasion of the Embrapa farm. It was after this episode that the Lula government’s statements hardened against the movement.

“This region is an area of ​​great conflicts. When they talked to me, the orientation was that of a person with capacity for dialogue between the MST, the settled families and the government”, he says.

“My area has always involved seeking the development of settlements and carrying out this dialogue between the families and the government. Now, my mission is to discuss with the settled families this new phase that the country is going through, of producing healthy food and fighting hunger”, it says.

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