Brazilians invade property to press for reforms

Financial Times ^ | April 6 2004 | Raymond Colitt

[Tailgunner Joe]

Landless movements throughout Brazil have launched a wave of protests and illegal property invasions to pressure the left-leaning government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president, to accelerate land reform.

During the past fortnight, the MST or Landless Workers' Movement, the largest of the landless movements, invaded more than 40 rural properties, including the Veracel tree plantation in southern Bahia state, which is half-owned by Stora-Enso, the Swedish-Finnish paper company. Thousands of protesters there converted 25 hectares of tree saplings into vegetable gardens.

"It's a very bad sign for investors. The government can't lose control like this," Vitor Costa, Veracel president, told the FT.

Another landless movement on Tuesday blocked roads and occupied offices of the government's land reform bureau in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco.

The latest wave of MST activity comes just as Mr Lula da Silva was hoping the fallout from a graft scandal involving a presidential aide was beginning to ebb. The scandal had unleashed pent-up criticism after an extended honeymoon last year and ahead of October's municipal elections.

Opposition parties and the country's strong agriculture lobby are now certain to renew their criticism of the government, which will make more headlines. The country's four largest newspapers on Tuesday carried front page stories with photographs showing peasants armed with machetes.

For nearly two decades the MST has been fighting to reverse a highly unequal distribution of land. More recently the movement has argued that Mr Lula da Silva is not moving fast enough to meet his pledge of sweeping land reform.

While most of its followers are unemployed city dwellers or impoverished peasants hoping for a plot of their own land, the MST's leadership is highly politicised and known to lecture recent recruits with revolutionary literature.

After one MST leader last month threatened to "create hell" if its demands were not met, the government pledged an additional R$1.7bn ($590m) towards settling some 400,000 families by the end of 2006.

"Agrarian reform in this country will be carried out because of social justice and better distribution of productive land so our people have the opportunity to work," Mr Lula da Silva said last week. "But it won't be carried out by force - neither of the workers nor of those that are against it."

Critics say government complacency with the MST is scaring off private investment. Some cattle ranchers have joined forces and armed themselves. The MST invasions were "worrisome and embarrassing", Roberto Rodrigues, agriculture minister, on Tuesday told a seminar on the outlook of Brazil's agro-business.

With investments of $1.25bn, the Veracel tree plantation is one of the largest private investment projects under the Lula da Silva administration. It is due to inaugurate its 900,000 tone-per-year processing plant in July of next year.

[shamusotoole]

What a tangled web we weave...

when the poor think they'll receive!

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[MichaelP]

It worked for Mugabe!

Mike

[Caipirabob]

Did the leftist trash bring their vision of the new "Brasilian Flag"?

Aii! Meu Brasil...