AMERICA/BRAZIL - Pastoral Land: 26 murders reported in eight months

Wednesday, 15 December 2021 human rights   local churches   indigenous  

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Brasilia (Agenzia Fides) - According to data from the Documentation Center of the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) on conflicts in camps, in the period from January, 1 to August 31, 2021, 26 homicides related to land conflicts were reported. Compared to the whole of 2020, they represent a 30% increase. Of the 26 murder victims, 8 were indigenous, 6 landless, 3 squatters, 3 quilombola, 2 settlers, 2 smallholders and 2 Babassu coconut breakers. In relation to 2020, the number of indigenous and quilombola killed has remained the same, while the number of landless has tripled, from 2 in 2020 to 6 in 2021. All quilombolas killed in 2021 (3) were from Maranhão, the state with the highest number of homicides in the year (9), about one third of the total recorded so far.
According to the note from CPT sent to Fides, all 6 landless were killed in the Amazon, of whom five were killed in Rondônia. They were all members of the League of Poor Farmers. Three of them were killed in a massacre that took place on August 13, by the Special Operations Battalion (BOPE) of the Prime Minister of Rondônia and the National Security Force, in Nova Mutum, Porto Velho district.
This was the only massacre recorded by the CPT so far in 2021. The conflict in the region remains very tense. The number of squatters killed went from 1 in 2020 to 3 in 2021 and that of settlers from 1 in 2020 to 2 in 2021. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 15/12/2021)

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