Violent Eviction of Landless Settlements in Bahia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Three camp settlements belonging to the MST landless movement in the interior of the northeastern state of Bahia, have been raided by a large police contingent.

Using tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets, more than 600 families were forcibly evicted from their homes the cities of Casa Nova and Juazeiro last week.

Houses and school buildings for approximately 200 children were destroyed with heavy machinery.

Members of local armed militias supported the federal and state police officers. There were several injured among the settlement inhabitants. Three people were shot by rubber bullets, including a three-year-old girl.

Activist Laurindo Pereira da Silva was shot in the head. The eviction was carried out in accordance with an order issued by the Companhia de Desenvolvimento dos Vales do São Francisco e do Parnaíba (São Francisco and Parnaíba Development Company – CODEVASF).

CODEVASF reports to the Federal Ministry for Regional Development and hence to the government in Brasília.

Under agreements with state authorities, the three setlement camps were located on state lands occupied by the MST more than seven years ago, which had previously been abandoned. Families organized by the Movement farmed the occupied land.

They supplied markets in four surrounding cities with thousands of tons of beans, corn, onions, melons, and mangos.

In their residential settlements, an infrastructure with shops, bakeries, snack bars, and cultural meeting venues had been built. The land is part of an area where CODEVASF is planning irrigation projects for large agricultural producers. This includes the “Project Salitre”. The Salitre River flows into the São Francisco River near Juazeiro.

According to the squatter association, occupying the land hindered the plans for the project to be implemented.

President Jair Bolsonaro announced this week a “guarantee of law and order” bill to enable the deployment of armed forces in operations against land occupations, bypassing the state governments.

The MST and the Brazilian Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) strongly denounce the ultra-right leader’s plans in statements. According to them, this is a further criminalization of social movements. The CPT believes that this will serve the interests of the large landowners and exacerbate the bloodshed of land conflicts.

The Pastoral Land Commission speaks of a “license to kill” for the police and military. According to the MST, Bolsonaro’s policy threatens rural communities. The movement intends to continue to fight for freedom of assembly and for the social role of land, also enshrined in the Brazilian constitution, according to its statement.

On Tuesday morning, MST activists temporarily blocked the 101 and 324 federal highways and demonstrated their outrage at the evictions and police brutality. The displaced settlers also criticized the lack of support from the state government. Bahia’s governor Rui Costa is a member of the opposition left-wing workers party (PT).