Land grabbers once again set ablaze public lands in Pará State previously targeted on the “Day of Fire”
On the day that marks the third-year anniversary of the infamous “Day of Fire”, one the worst impacted settlements came once again under attack. On August 10 and 11, 2019, multiple criminal fires, started in a synchronized effort across several locations in the North of Brazil, wreaked havoc in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. These acts, coordinated among and orchestrated by farmers and local agribusinesses, mainly from Western Pará State, consisted of setting public lands on fire with the ultimate goal of land grabbing, while also serving as a dog-whistle to President Jair Bolsonaro, who has demonstrated his support to agribusiness and land grabbers on several occasions.
Since last Thursday, August 11, families in the PDS Terra Nossa, located between the municipalities of Novo Progresso and Altamira, are reliving the horrors perpetrated against them in 2019. Although the events that took place on the “Day of Fire” have highlighted the use of fire as a tool for the expropriation of rural communities and the consolidation of land grabbing, these criminal fires, land grabbing, and deforestation practices are recurring, as reported and demonstrated by local families, social organizations, and fire tracking platforms, year after year. According to Instituto Socioambiental’s (ISA) platform, Alertas+, deforestation in 2021 in the area of Novo Progresso increased by 91% compared to 2020. As per the 2021 Caderno de Conflitos no Campo [Field Conflict Notebook], published by Comissão Pastoral da Terra [Pastoral Land Commission] (CPT), in 2021 a total of 37,596 families were affected by criminal fires, 35,420 by land grabbing, and 42,255 by illegal deforestation.
For years, the families of PDS Terra Nossa have been receiving a series of threats, some of which have materialized, as was the case with the 2018 assassinations of four community leaders following altercations with local agribusinesses. The illegal appropriation of land by local agribusiness is preceded by criminal fires and deforestation. Assassinations in PDS Terra Nossa have also been recorded in 2011, and on July 10 of this year a young milk producer named Zé Filho was murdered with a shotgun blast to the back. As it was the case in 2019, the families’ crops, cultivation areas, and water sources are currently facing destruction. The ways of life, health, and food sovereignty of the residents of PDS Terra Nossa are being shattered. Public agencies have already been notified, but as of today (August 12) no action has been taken against the land grabbers who are responsible for starting these criminal fires. At this very moment, community leaders denouncing the invasions to the territory continue to receive death threats.
The undersigned organizations, social movements from both rural and metropolitan areas, and communities in this Letter of Solidarity to the PDS Terra Nossa, DEMAND the competent bodies such as the Ministério Público Federal [Federal Public Prossecutor’s Office], Secretaria de Justiça e Direitos Humanos do Pará [Office of Justice and Human Rights of the State of Pará], Secretaria de Estado de Segurança Pública e Defesa Social [Office of Public Security and Social Protection of the State of Pará], Ministério Público do Estado do Pará [Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Pará], Delegacia de Conflitos Agrário do Estado do Pará [Agrarian Conflict Office of the State of Pará], INCRA [National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform], and IBAMA [Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources], take EFFICIENT and URGENT measures to protect the PDS Terra Nossa and its residents, and to hold the territory invaders responsible for, once again, causing catastrophic and irreversible damage to the families of PDS Terra Nossa and to the Amazon rainforest. The undersigned also demand that the competent bodies carry out urgent and efficient measures against the occurrence of new forest fires and land grabbing initiatives.
SIGNED BY THE FOLLOWING:
Comissão Pastoral da Terra
Núcleo de Pesquisa e Extensão em Saberes e Práticas Agroecológicas (Neuza- UFNT)
Quilombo Cocalinho (MA)
Associação Xavante Warã
Fórum Popular da Natureza (FPN)
FAOR- Fórum da Amazônia Oriental
Amazon Watch
Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre
MAB- Movimentos dos Atingidos por Barragens
Instituto Soma Brasil
IZM-Instituto Zé Cláudio e Maria
Rede de Agroecologia do Maranhão- Rama
Comissão Pastoral dos Pescadores (CPP)
MATULA- UnB
CIMI-Conselho Indigenista Missionário
Associação Defesa Direitos Humanos e Meio Ambiente na Amazônia
Comissão VERBITA JUSTIÇA, PAZ E INTEGRIDADE DA CRIAÇÃO
VIVAT INTERNACIONAL /BRASIL
Movimento Nacional de Direitos Humanos MNDH Brasil
REPAM- Campanha a Vida por um Fio
Mesa departamental por la defensa del agua y el territorio – Colômbia
Pastoral Rural da Diocese de Cruzeiro do Sul
Assessoria jurídica da Diocese de Cruzeiro do Sul
CPT Acre
SDDH- Sociedade Paraense de defesa dos Direitos Humanos
Instituto Amazônia Solidária (IAMAS)
Fundo Dema
CEBs Regional Norte 2
Os OBLATOS DE MARIA IMACULADA.
Terra de Direitos
Maparajuba Direitos Humanos na Amazônia
STTR Sindicato dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras Rurais de Santarém
STTR Sindicato dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras Rurais de Monte Alegre
STTR Sindicato dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras Rurais de Alenquer
CITA- Conselho Indígena Tapajós Arapiuns
CPT de Anapú
Campanha de prevenção e combate ao trabalho escravo da CPT “De olho aberto para não virar escravo”
FASE Programa Amazônia
Fórum Mudanças Climáticas e Socioambiental – FMCJS
Núcleo de Assessoria Jurídica Universitária Popular – NAJUP Cabano
Comissão Justiça e Paz da Arquidiocese de Santarém
Fórum de Direitos Humanos e da Terra – FDHT MT
Centro Burnier
Irmãs do Imaculado Coração de Maria – Província Guadalupe
Coletivo de Mulheres do Xingu
Rede Brasileira de Justiça Ambiental – RBJA
Centro de Promoção da Cidadania e Defesa dos Direitos Humanos Pe. Josimo.
Articulação de Mulheres Brasileiras
União Brasileira de Mulheres (UBM)
Fórum de Mulheres de Pernambuco
Fórum de Mulheres de Imperatriz
Observatório dos Conflitos do Extremo Sul do Brasil
CPT -PI
CARITAS – PI
IRMÃS DO IMACULADO CORAÇÃO DE MARIA – PI
MOVIMENTO DE MORADORES EM SITUACAO DE RUA -PI
Carmen Lucia Troina Reguffe
Carlos Roberto Alves Ribeiro
Centro Acadêmico de Direito Vandria Borari – UFOPA
Rede Cerrado
Associação dos Geógrafos Brasileiros – AGB
-Fórum de Mudanças Climáticas e Justiça Sociambiental /FMCJS
CESE – Coordenadoria Ecumênica de Serviço
Rede Cerrado
Greenpeace
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