MST starts Lula government with ‘foot on the brake’ and targets Northeast – 04/29/2023 – Politics

The MST (Movement of Landless Rural Workers) ends the National Day of Struggle for Land and Agrarian Reform, known as Red April, with its foot on the brakes on demonstrations and concentrating land invasions in Northeastern states.

The actions that marked the resumption of struggles for agrarian reform in the third term of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) were highly visible and won the public debate. But they were shy compared to previous years, under the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.

In all, there were 159 land invasions led by the MST during the four years of the Bolsonaro government, 37 of which in 2022 alone. .

Between January and April of this year, under Lula, 18 farms were invaded by the landless. Of these, 14 were in April and involved 3,448 families.

The lowest number of new invasions happens at a time when movements fighting for land are facing an offensive in the Legislative Power, with the creation of the MST CPI in the Chamber of Deputies, in addition to an organized action by rural producers in repudiation of land invasions.

The MST also faces conflicts with the Lula government, which has indicated irritation with the invasions and has yet to announce a plan to create new rural settlements in the coming years.

National coordinator of the MST, João Paulo Rodrigues, says that the idea was to carry out more land invasions this year, but the troubled political situation forced a revision of tactics, prioritizing political acts in the capitals.

In all, more than 20,000 landless were mobilized, who participated in protests and invasions in 19 states, including acts at the local headquarters of Incra in 13 capitals.

“We carried out a smaller number of occupations and prioritized actions in the capitals so as not to have too many clashes with the landowners, much less want to provoke the right with a long day of occupation”, says Rodrigues.

In an interview with Sheet, he highlighted the autonomy of the MST and said that the movement “does not accept a collar or muzzle” from the government. At the same time, he points out that he did not want to create tensions with Lula and says he understands that the impact of the invasions in the press was disproportionate.

The MST also pressed for changes in Incra’s state superintendencies, with the dismissal of remnants of the Bolsonaro government. The Lula government changed the head of the body in 19 states and in the Federal District. The MST denies having made any nominations for positions.

With greater demand for settlements compared to other regions, the Northeast was the epicenter of land invasions in this red April.

In Pernambuco alone, ten farms were occupied, including government lands, areas of former cane fields and sugar mills. The MST alleged that the lands are unproductive or have tax irregularities.

Among them was a farm in Petrolina that belongs to Embrapa (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária), a federal company known for being a reference in agricultural research. The initiative generated a strong reaction from the government, which opted to postpone the announcement of plans for agrarian reform.

Embrapa says that an area of ​​around 2,000 hectares is used for experiments and the multiplication of genetic material, in addition to including caatinga preservation areas. The MST contested the existence of research at the site, classified the action as a protest and left the site days later, following a court order.

In the state of Bahia, three areas were invaded this week in the municipalities of Juazeiro, Jaguaquara and Guaratinga, the latter a reoccupation.

The actions resulted in legal challenges. The National Confederation of Agriculture filed a preliminary injunction with the STF (Federal Supreme Court) to prevent invasions of rural properties across the country.

The entity also defends the action of the federal and state governments to monitor mobilizations and propose actions to combat land invasions.

President of the Agricultural Parliamentary Front, federal deputy Pedro Lupion (PP-PR) criticized the land invasions led by the MST and classified the Red April as a political movement in which the defense of agrarian reform was in the background.

“There was a high number of invasions, some impactful like the lands of Suzano and Embrapa. They lose reason and discourse when they invade a research institute. And with each wrong move they make, we strengthen our position”, he says.

Frictions with agriculture began in February, when the MST invaded four farms in Bahia, three of them in Suzano Papel e Celulose eucalyptus production areas. The farms were vacated in March, but they raised the alarm of businessmen and the ruralist group.

In the Lula government, there was discomfort. Two days before the invasions, the Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, had participated in a fair in a settlement in Paraná and said that the MST had in him an ally to end prejudice in relation to a “legitimate movement of dreams for land”. .

Mobilized, agribusiness sectors began to organize groups of rural producers willing to use force, including weapons, to prevent further invasions. In southern Bahia, producers got together through apps and messages and created an initiative called Invasão Zero.

On Monday (24th), landowners went to the surroundings of the farm invaded by the MST in Jaguaquara (337 km from Salvador) and threatened to expel the camped families. The Military Police intervened and there were no conflicts.

Actions like these warn of a possible resurgence of agrarian conflicts and violence in the countryside, says Andréia Silvério, a member of the national coordination of the CPT (Pastoral Land Commission), an entity linked to the CNBB (National Conference of Bishops of Brazil).

“It is a very worrying move, including because there are, within the Legislature itself, speeches that legitimize violence. And impunity is a very strong feature of conflicts in the countryside, there is practically no punishment”, he says.

Data from the CPT show that violence in the countryside increased during the Bolsonaro government, which registered the highest number of conflicts over land since redemocratization. In 2022, there were 1,572 occurrences of agrarian conflicts in the country, the second highest number in the historical series — the highest was in 2020.