17 years since the Carajás Massacre

The Relevance of the Struggle for Agrarian Reform Today

Arlete Sampaio

This year, the Federal District will hold the 1st District Week of Struggle for Agrarian Reform and Dissemination of Non-Violent Forms for Conflict Resolution, established by Law 5.071/2013, which I authored.

The goal of the Week is to develop activities to discuss agrarian issues, provide opportunities for reflection on ways to prevent violence in rural areas, build spaces for dialogue, establish agreements, and promote a culture of peace.

The choice to hold the week on April 17th is a way to commemorate the Eldorado dos Carajás Massacre, which occurred on April 17, 1996. Indeed, the nineteen burnt Brazil nut trees placed at the S-curve where the massacre took place in Eldorado dos Carajás represent not only the nineteen fatal victims of the bloody action carried out by the Pará Military Police, but also their families, surviving comrades, and workers who fell in other massacres, killings, and ambushes throughout 500 years of our country's history.

The fact, still fresh in our memory, imposes upon us the obligation to debate the agrarian question and violence in the countryside in order to seek the resolution of conflicts in a non-violent way. Indeed, the struggle for Agrarian Reform in Brazil, which gained more visibility with the creation of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in the early 80s, is a response to the historical concentration of land ownership in our country and the conflicts arising from this reality.

The reproduction of violence in the countryside is also due to the impunity of the perpetrators: the 155 military police officers who directly carried out the Eldorado dos Carajás Massacre were acquitted, and the then Governor of the State of Pará, Almir Gabriel, and his Secretary of Public Security, Paulo Sette Câmara, were not even indicted for ordering the execution of the action. In fact, only two commanders – Colonel Mário Colares Pantoja and Major José Maria Pereira de Oliveira – were convicted.

The Eldorado dos Carajás Massacre highlights the unpreparedness of state agents to deal with social problems, especially conflicts in rural areas, as well as exposing the slowness and inefficiency of the justice system, the lack of instruments to mediate conflicts, and the absence of effective public actions to combat violence in the countryside.

Although Article 184 of the 1988 Federal Constitution mandates the expropriation of rural properties that do not fulfill their social function, the effective implementation of this right by the State has not yet been able to alter the country's land structure, whether due to bureaucratic obstacles, judicial impasses, or the strength of agribusiness interests, among other reasons.

In the Federal District, despite the proportionally small rural area compared to the size of the public service, the struggle for land has always been present in the demands of social movements, whether due to its proximity to the Federal Public Power or the possibility that agrarian reform represents for overcoming rural poverty.

Aware of these demands, the District Government has adopted several measures since last year that are already beginning to yield initial results. An example of this is the dialogue established between the GDF (Government of the Federal District), the National Agrarian Ombudsman, and social movements linked to the issue, among other institutions – which has led to the peaceful resolution of conflicts in court-ordered repossession cases.

Other positive measures included the creation by the GDF (Government of the Federal District) of the District Forum for Agrarian Reform Policies and the implementation of the Rural Workers Settlement Program – PRAT, established by Law 1.572/1997, made effective through the appointment of the Councilors of the Settlement Policy Council. The GDF also established partnerships with INCRA (National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform) and created, within TERRACAP (Territorial Development Company of Amapá), the Extraordinary Directorate for the Regularization of Rural Properties, among other actions.

Furthermore, the District Executive, through SEDEST, works to facilitate access for families settled in the Federal District to social policies, such as the Bolsa Família Program and the Minha Casa, Minha Vida Rural program. It also invests in district policies, such as the DF Sem Miséria program and the Agricultural Product Acquisition Program (PAPA).

In 2006, the Public Prosecutor's Office and TERRACAP signed the Conduct Adjustment Agreement 018/2006, aimed at the environmental regularization of public lands in the Federal District, with measures designed to monitor and guarantee the socio-environmental function of rural property. This is a mandatory agreement, which constitutes an important instrument for land regularization and for demanding compliance with the socio-environmental function of public lands in the Federal District.

All these actions are fundamental to guaranteeing access to land and establishing forms of conflict mediation, thus avoiding episodes like the Eldorado dos Carajás Massacre, which will be seventeen years old next Wednesday.

Ultimately, only affirmative measures to democratize access to land, strengthen family farming through settlements, implement agrarian reform, and establish instruments for conflict prevention will put an end to violence in the countryside.

* Arlete Sampaio is a district representative for the PT/DF (Workers' Party of the Federal District).