The Land Pastoral Commission (CPT) reported this Monday that the number of killings and attacks linked to land conflicts rose by 95 percent and 1,100 percent, respectively, in the Roraima area in its latest tally.
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The annual report notes that in 2020-2021 the number of deaths from conflict increased from nine to 109; 101 of them were victims of mining exploitation and were located in Yanomami territory in Roraima.
The total number of conflicts recorded reaches 1,768, alluding to disputes between landowners and workers over land, water or other types of work.
Though that number is 14 percent lower than those reported in 2020, the report warns that despite the decline in numbers from a year earlier, “there is a trend towards an intensification of conflict and violence since the Bolsonaro government took office.”
Deaths from rural conflict increased by 1100% in Brazil in 2021, according to the country’s Pastoral Commission. Rapes, evictions, executions and massacres also increased. The report links the violence to agribusiness interests and the absence of the federal government. pic.twitter.com/qMcPKjCz8U
— André Vieira (@AndreteleSUR)
April 18, 2022
The Dom Tomás Balduíno Documentation Center (Cedoc-CPT) registered 35 murders, an increase of 95 percent compared to 2020. The areas with the greatest participation were Rondônia and Maranhão in the legal Amazon.
Likewise, the Cedoc-CPT states that among those recently murdered are five people from the mixed-gender community, nine from the landless movement and one young indigenous man. In addition, 13 workers were tortured while 75 were attacked, while 1,726 workers were counted into submission, a number that exceeds 113 percent of the cases identified by the CPT in 2020.
The report clarifies that “these homicides are premeditated and are known to involve community leaders and unionists who resist usurpation.”
At the family level, 50 embargoes and occupations were implemented, affecting 4,761 nuclei, while 164,782 families were affected, of which 17,706 suffered evictions.
It is worth noting that water continues to be one of the main causes of conflicts that have affected 56,135 families, particularly in Bahia Province and the Northeastern and Northern regions.
The residents of these areas are also “exposed to logging, grass and soybeans, always heading north, in a veritable crusade of plunder (logging and mining), illegal appropriation of public lands (“grilagem”) and physical violence,” according to the report in question points out.
The data released shows a wave of violence in rural areas that has arisen as a result of exploitation and workers’ resistance and which is not receiving federal attention due to the prevailing agro-commercial interests in these areas.