Paulo Pimenta says CPI will be an opportunity for the country to get to know the MST

Paulo Pimenta (PT), head of the Secretariat for Social Communication (Secom), joined this Sunday (14) the list of ministers from the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) who attended the fair of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra ( MST) this weekend, in São Paulo.

Also present at the event were the vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), and ministers Fernando Haddad, of Finance, Paulo Teixeira, of Agrarian Development, and Marcio França (PSB), of Ports and Airports.

On the occasion, Pimenta told journalists that the MST’s Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI), which should be installed in the Chamber of Deputies, will be an “opportunity” for the country to get to know the agrarian movement.

“The CPI is going to be a great opportunity for Brazil to get to know the MST. The MST is going to leave this CPI more respected, bigger, having more visibility and being more admired”, said Pimenta, adding that the MST is “the biggest producer of rice Latin America” ​​and that it should be seen as a “great food producer”. As reported by the People’s Gazettethe volume of organic rice produced by the MST would be enough for less than one day of consumption in the country.

Pimenta also said that the Lula government has space for family and business agriculture. “This contradiction does not exist and occasional noises, those who live in democracy know that this is part of the political game, of the democratic game”, he added.

However, the prestige of members of the government at the MST fair has the potential to erode Lula’s relations with agribusiness. The agrarian movement has increased the number of invasions of private properties and Union land since Lula took office, especially during the “Red April” campaign, when the MST invaded farms and even Embrapa’s research area.

When commenting on the participation of the vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), in the MST event, alongside João Pedro Stédille, one of the leaders of the movement, deputy Evair de Melo (PP-ES), second vice-president of the Front Parliamentarian for Agriculture (FPA), said that the government “has pulled out the bridge with agro and there is no more dialogue”.