Padilha criticizes MST invasions again – 04/21/2023 – Politics

The Minister of the Institutional Relations Secretariat, Alexandre Padilha, said this Friday (21) that there are “other forms of struggle” and criticized the invasions that the MST (Movement of Landless Rural Workers) has promoted in recent days.

The movement’s performance generated a crisis with the government and irritated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), as shown by the Sheet. The evaluation is that this caused delays in the timetable foreseen for the announcement of the resumption of agrarian reform policies in the country.

“I already said, I disagree with any kind of invasion of productive areas, especially areas where research is being carried out, as a form of struggle”, said Padilha, as he left a Conamad event (National Convention of the Assemblies of God Madureira), in Brasília .

“I believe that the movement and other movements have other forms of struggle that can conquer society even more for such an important cause that is the cause of agrarian reform, family farming, food production in our country”, he added.

This week, the MST inaugurated the National Day of Struggle for Land and Agrarian Reform with the invasion of at least nine farms, including an area belonging to Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation), in addition to Incra headquarters in at least seven federation units.

Padilha had previously criticized the actions of the movement last Tuesday. He said that he “vehemently” condemned the damage to processes and productive areas, and that this was not the best form of struggle.

Lula, before leaving for Europe on Wednesday, met ministers to address the issue, which concerns the government and, especially, agribusiness.

There is still, among members of the government, the fear that this movement will disrupt the progress of agendas of interest to the Lula administration in Congress, such as the approval of the provisional measure that takes Conab (Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento) to the umbrella of the Ministry of Agrarian Development, leaving the portfolio of Agriculture.

Padilha also highlighted the role of the MDA (Ministry of Agrarian Development) in the dialogue with the movements and spoke about programs launched by the Lula government 3.

“The MDA has been dialoguing with family farmers since the beginning, movements in the rural area to jointly build a program to strengthen the settlements, to increase productivity”, he said.

On Wednesday (19), Minister Paulo Teixeira (Agrarian Development) went to Congress to talk to leaders of the Chamber and Senate and inform them that the MST would leave the areas of Embrapa and Suzano. The objective was to talk to parliamentarians about the approval of the MP that took Conab to the Ministry of Agrarian Development.

The following day, Lula called a meeting to discuss the issue. The Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, was going to attend an event in London, but had to cancel his participation because he had been summoned by the president to discuss the crisis generated by the MST invasions.

On another front, Minister Fernando Haddad (Finance) decided to meet with members of the MST’s national coordination. On the agenda, there was a request for the release of funds for agrarian reform and other topics of interest to the movement.

After the meeting with the Minister of Finance, João Paulo Rodrigues, from the national coordination of the MST, said that the political crisis involving land invasions was treated in a secondary way.

The coordinator stated that the meeting with Haddad was fruitful in relation to the movement’s demands and that there was no pressure to interrupt or reduce the pace of invasions.

He also declared that the Minister of Finance specifically asked for the evacuation of the Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation) area that was invaded in Petrolina (PE).