The Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) of the Brazilian Episcopal Conference today issued a document supported by ten or more other organizations which condemned the violence taking place in the rural areas of Brazil, particularly in the southern part of the State of Pará. They denounced the killings taking place there in connection with the violence and the lack of punishment being meted out. They have also proposed some solutions to the problem. The document was sent to human rights organizations and ambassadors and representatives of some 60 countries.
The document, sent as well to the Brazilian ambassadors in foreign countries, proposes an immediate land distribution to all the landless farmer families camped in the area, the expropriation of the non-productive farms and provision of assistance to the farmers already in place in the southern part of the State of Pará. In addition, the CPT and the other co-signing organizations seek the punishment of those responsible for the massacre of 19 citizens in Eldorado dos Carajas which took place on 18 April, 1996 in the southern part of the State of Pará.
The President of the 'Highest Federal Court', Celso de Mello, stated on the matter that today in Brazil 'the impunity and the systematic disregard for the law demonstrate that the State is incapable or does not possess the political will to fulfill one of its functions'. Mello made this criticism at his reception of a group of widows of the 'landless farmers' who had been killed in the State of Pará, the leaders of Movimento dos sem terra (MST- Movement of the Landless), and representatives of the various social organizations and the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT -Workers Party). He promised he would seek information from the various state courts on the 1,003 people murdered in connection in the struggle for land reform (lawyers, technicians, religious and union leaders).
(Source: Agencia Estado)