Brazil: landless peasants movement leader killed by gunmen FWD

Tom Boland (wgcp@earthlink.net)
Thu, 1 Oct 1998 17:05:30 -0400 

http://www.infoseek.com/Content?arn=a1343LBY702reulb-19980926&qt=homeless&sv=IS&
lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486


     BRAZIL LANDLESS LEADER KILLED NEAR CARDUSO RANCH

     By Phil Stewart


SAO PAULO, Sept 26, 1988 (Reuters) - Gunmen dressed in police
uniforms murdered a grass-roots leader of Brazil's radical
Landless Movement (MST) just eight miles (15 km) from
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's ranch, an MST official
said on Saturday.

The gunmen shot Venceslau Pereira da Silva, 42, four times on
Friday near his home at the 17-family squatter village of Nova
Italia, Buritis, located in Minas Gerais state, said Gilberto Portes
Oliveira of the MST national executive.

Pereira da Silva had led the small settlement since the homeless
families invaded the land about a year ago.

``We cannot find a motive for this assassination,'' Oliveira said.
``This was a small settlement that had been respected by the police
and nearby landowners. There was no conflict there.'' It was not
yet clear if the attackers really were police or were just dressed as
such.

There was no comment on the incident yet from police or the
presidential palace.

Since 1985 more than 1,000 people have died in land disputes in
Brazil, where only two percent of the population controls half of
the nation's arable land, according to the Catholic-run Pastoral
Land Commission.

But the killing of Nova Italia's Pereira da Silva was a shock,
Oliveira said. He distanced the attack from recent accusations by a
Cardoso cabinet head that the MST was planning to invade the
president's ranch in Buritis, located near the Nova Italia
settlement.

``I am aware of that (the government's concern),'' Oliveira said.
``But right now we don't think Cardoso or the federal government
had anything to do with this. We're looking at other local
landowners.''

Cardoso, who must stand for reelection on Oct. 4, has often been
irked by MST land invasions and strongly criticised the
movement's leaders earlier this year for their support of food
lootings during a severe drought in impoverished northeastern
areas of the country.

The MST has emerged as Brazil's most powerful social voice
against the government and uses land invasions, like the one in
Nova Italia, as a technique to highlight the 4.8 million families
which it says are waiting to be settled.

END FORWARD

** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. **
HOMELESS PEOPLE'S NETWORK  <http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/>  Home Page
ARCHIVES  <http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/archives.html>  read posts to HPN
TO JOIN  <http://aspin.asu.edu/hpn/join.html> or email Tom <wgcp@earthlink.net>