July 13, 2021

12:07

MANAUS – The murder of a rural worker in Maranhão this Sunday, 11, has reignited the concern about the safety of workers in the face of agrarian conflicts in the state. José Francisco de Sousa Araújo, known as “Vanu”, was the fourth victim of these conflicts in less than a month according to the Federation of Rural Workers of Maranhão (Fetaema). The organization also points out that these conflicts are the result of the advance of agribusiness.

Maranhão has been the protagonist of a wave of violence against rural workers and family farmers. Besides José’s murder, there was also the death of family farmer Antônio Gonçalves Dias, on the 2nd of this month. Besides the attempted murder of Juscelino Galvão, on the 3rd of this month. The couple of rural workers Reginaldo Alves Barros and Maria da Luz Benício de Sousa were murdered on June 18 in a crime that Fetaema claims was an “ambush”.

Motivation

José Francisco was a resident of the city of Codó, 219 kilometers from São Luís, but was born and raised in Povoado Vergel. In 2019, due to an assassination attempt, he moved with his family to the community Volta da Palmeira, where he was murdered. According to Fetaema, Vanu “was very knowledgeable about the agrarian conflicts in the Vergel community, which have already fatally victimized four of his relatives.”

According to Fetaema’s lawyer, Diogo Cabral, there is still no more information about the authorship and motivation for the murder of Vanu in the region known for its history of crimes motivated by agrarian conflicts. “It is still not known what were the reasons, motivations and authorship of the murder. What we do know is that Vanu was a rural worker, who was born and raised in the community Vergel, in Codó, and that in 2019 he suffered a bullet attack and had to leave that location,” pointed out the lawyer.

He adds that this location is a historical stage of agrarian conflicts, where more than four people have been killed and several others have received death threats. “It is essential that the Civil Police investigate this case as quickly as possible so that it does not remain under the shadow of impunity,” Cabral determined.

Attempt

The death of José Francisco is the third execution of family farmers in Maranhão. Rural worker Antônio Gonçalves Diniz was also murdered by two men. He was known for fighting for the rights of family farmers in the Maranhão lowlands, being an advocate of agrarian reform and against the fencing in of natural fields.

The day after Antônio’s death, Juscelino Galvão suffered an attack, but managed to escape alive. He is a former leader of the Rural Workers Union of Alto Alegre, in Maranhão, and a leader of the settlement project Boa Hora Campestre.

On July 1st, the day before the assassination attempt, he was at the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), in a meeting with the agency’s superintendent, denouncing the agrarian conflict caused by land grabbers and the threats suffered by the settlement’s rural workers.

The couple Reginaldo and Maria in Povoado Vilela/Gleba Campina, city of Junco do Maranhão. Maria was a union leader and acted as an alternate in the Syndicate of Rural Workers (STTR) of Junco do Maranhão, affiliated to Fetaema. The community is composed of a total of 66 families that occupy an area of approximately 2,250 hectares of land, where they develop family farming activities, planting corn, beans, rice, and raising animals.

Agribusiness

The agrarian conflicts in Maranhão are results of the advance of agribusiness in rural regions. According to the secretary of Environment of FETAEMA, Antônio Sorriso, the activity tries to inhibit the family production of local farmers. “With the advance of the soy farmer, family farmers in these regions already feel intimidated by the situations they have been experiencing. Each time agribusiness advances, agriculture is suffocated. Within agribusiness comes everything that affects the worker’s life,” said Sorriso.

“The agrotoxics, the spraying areas, which is a way they have been using to intimidate, because from the moment poison is put on the plane, it covers the community, it affects the health of those people. Many times these families are forced to leave their small properties for agribusiness,” concluded Antônio.

The reporter contacted the Maranhão Secretary of Public Security about the progress of the investigations regarding the attack against José and other rural workers, but did not receive a reply until this publication.

Translation: Bruno Sena