Brazil: Landless Workers’ Movement begins ‘Red April’ invasions 

At least 250 militants of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) invaded three areas belonging to a mill, in the city of Timbaúba, in Pernambuco, in the early hours of Monday 3.

The area is about 800 hectares.

The invasion started the so-called Red April, organized annually by the movement to invade properties to press for land reform.

In a statement, the MST said the invaded areas are unproductive and “do not fulfill their social function, which is to produce food for society.”

It also states that the region’s current situation is “predatory and has impacts on nature”.

The movement claimed that the lands belonged to the state government of Pernambuco and that the plant illegally appropriated them.

The document released by the MST also cites Article 184 of the Constitution, which states that the Union should “expropriate for social interest, for agrarian reform, the rural property that is not fulfilling its social function, upon prior and fair indemnification in agrarian debt bonds.”

FARMERS GET ORGANIZED IN BAHIA

In Bahia, farmers worried about the inertia of Lula’s government and Jerônimo Rodrigues, governor of the state, in containing the invasions of rural properties, are organizing themselves, with the support of city halls and class entities, to face the Red April.

One of the organizers of the resistance movement is farmer Luis Uaquim, who produces cocoa and raises cattle in Ilhéus.

Interviewed by CNN Brasil, he said that “the movement is a reaction to the Lula government”. ”

“The change of government at the federal level brought back a policy – supported by the PT – of land invasions,” declared the farmer.

He added:

“This ends up being worse in Bahia because the PT has governed the state for 16 years, so the MST finds fertile ground to invade here.”

With information from Revista Oeste