Details on the Massacre of Landless Workers in Eldorado (State of Para) Brazil

Rio Maria Committee of the United States, 25 April 1996

On April 18 eight seriously wounded people arrived in Belem from Maraba. It was difficult to communicate with them because some needed immediate surgery, and others were in a precarious situation both physically and mentally. CUT (Central Unica dos Trabalhadores, a labor federation), which was attempting to do a survey of what the wounded needed, since they arrived without clothing or shoes, said that it was impossible to make contact with them. The Director of the Hopsital said that he was following orders of the governor of the state, Amir Gabriel, and of the Secretary of Public Safety, Paulo Sette Camara. Only relatives could enter. The Union of Health Workers of the State acted to negotiate for the press. In this way a representative of Fetragri (Federacao dos Trabalhadores Rurais—the rural workers' federation) and a representative of CUT were able to enter, as long as they were accompanied by a representative of the hospital. They were not permitted to remain with the wounded. Even after this authorization, two plain-clothes police tried to remove those two representatives (CUT and Fetragri), saying that they had orders from the Secretary of Public Safety. Then the Director of the Hospital assumed the responsibility of permitting the presence of these representa-tives of CUT and Fetragri with the wounded. However, plain-clothes police remained at the door of the room of Rubenita Silva, leader of the Movement of the Landless for the state of Para. Since these wounded people are important witnesses to the massacre, their lives are valuable for some and dangerous for others. The wounded ones are very traumatized by the brutality which they and many of their companions experienced.

The information which was given to us by Fetragri in relation to the wounded are as follows:

• Rubenita Silva, one of the leaders of the Movement of the Landless, received a bullet in the jaw, resulting in the loss of several teeth. Her case is very serious. Her mouth is very much infected, making it difficult for her to eat. Since she is physically debilitated, the doctors are unable to operate on her for ten days.
• Jose Carlos Moreira dos Santos received a blow to the eye. He is in the intensive care unit, recovering from surgery. He is accompanied by his mother, Dona Dica, who also participated in the march, but managed to escape by running into the woods.
• Jose da Natividade: fractured femur
• Domingos dos Reis da Conceicao: fractured tibia and thigh bone
• Elyomar Pereira da Silva: fractured ankle
• Michael Jacson Barbosa: fractured femur
• Marcos Pereira da Silva: trauma from a firearm (there is not information about the precise location, but in the leg)
• Nilson Pereira de Souza: fracture of lower lateral limb, in addition to injuries in other parts of the body

In addition, there are inumerable other victims of the cruelty of these police. There is news of a female leader of the movement who was struck with the butt of a machine gun, and then was dragged through the woods by the hair by several police.

The main concern at the present time is to know who survived, who died, and who has been imprisoned.

The Movement of the Landless has already counted 80 people missing.

It is important to note that journalists have testified that, after the confrontation between the military police and the demonstrators, the military police relentlessly pursued the rural workers who fled into the woods seeking cover. Under the command of Colonel Mario Colares Pantoja, the police conducted summary executions of the workers, shooting at point-blank range, using rifles and machine guns. They used 762 mm rifles and 9mm machine guns, which have great destructive power.

The confrontation with the military police occurred after an ambush that the police organized against the demonstrators. This is what happened: One policeman who was in contact with the demonstrators promised fifty buses to transport them to Maraba. Those who descended from the buses, instead of being negotiators, were heavily armed police, dispached from Parauapebas. The police then waited for the arrival of MPs from the city of Maraba. 250 of them surrounded the landless workers, and began to throw tear gas bombs. The landless fought back with hoes and scythes. That was how the massacre began. The police took aim for the heads and the chests of the demonstrators.

If the police only wanted to unblock the highway, as they claim, why did they use such powerful weapons? Why, after the flight of the demonstrators, did they continue to pursue them through the woods?

Today, April 19, a funeral cortege extending for four miles accompanied the 19 bodies of the landless workers to Curionopolis, where they will be buried.

The elected officials who went to the site reached the conclusion that, after the shots were fired, the police sought to identify the leaders of the movement among those who had been injured, and executed a total of eight of them.

INCRA (The National Institute for Agrarian Reform) stated that the alleged owner of the Maxaxeira ranch, where the landless were camped, does not have a definitive title to the land, and has never paid the territorial rural tax.

Given all the facts that have been reported here and everything that has been shown on television, we ask for your help in spreading this information, sensitizing people so that they will pressure the authorities to investigate who is responsible and to punish the guilty.

Send telegrams or faxes to:

Exmo. Sr. Procurador da Republica
SGAS L2 SUL Q603 Lt 23—2o. andar
Brasilia—DF
Fax: (061) 223-6119

[Information sent by the Rio Maria Committee of Rio de Janeiro to the Rio Maria Committee of the United States and translated by the latter]