Brazil's poor take action
Left-wing candidate gaining support
By Dara MacNeil
It would appear that sections of Brazil's impoverished majority
have begun to take matters into their own hands. Tired of
official indifference and the inability of this very wealthy
country to feed its own, people in the northeast of the country
have been carrying out their own form of wealth re-distribution.
In the town of Araripina, in the state of Pernambuco, the office
of the Superintendent of Development was recently sacked and
3,700 crates of food `confiscated' by the hungry populace.
Since early May, Brazilian authorities have confirmed that in
excess of 43 similar incidents have occurred, with hungry crowds
directing their attention towards supermarkets and trucks
carrying cargoes of food.
These acts of expropriation have not been confined to one region,
and there are reports of crowds relieving supermarkets, and other
such outlets, of their produce in at least six Brazilian states:
Ceará, Pernambuco, Pariba, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe and
Piaui.
The Brazilian authorities have denied that it is hunger and want
which has compelled people to take the law into their own hands.
Rather they have chosen to add insult to obvious injury by
characterising the crowds as simple ``delinquents.''
They have also said they will be arresting leaders of the radical
Movimiento de los Sin Tierra (Movement of the Landless, MST),
claiming the organisation is behind the attacks on supermarkets
and official foodstores.The government has said it will use the
army, if necessary, to prevent the hungry feeding themselves.
Nonetheless, while the government has stated its determination to
use armed force to obstruct this ambitious, ad hoc programme of
wealth re-distribution, it is clear many among Brazil's poor want
no more than what has long been promised them, by such august
bodies as the United Nations. Article 25 of the UN Declaration of
Human Rights - 1998 marks the 50th anniversary of that document -
deals with the right to food, and decent medical care for all.
Perhaps the UN could dispatch an `intervention' force to ensure
Brazil's many ``delinquents'' are allowed to go about their
business without interference from the armed forces of the state.
Meanwhile, the MST has announced its support for the candidacy of
Luiz Inácio da Silva - popularly known as Lula - in Brazil's
presidential elections, scheduled to be held in September.
Lula is the candidate of the broad-based, left wing Workers'
Party (PT) - absolutely no relation of the Irish variety.
With four months to go to polling day, Lula has made enormous
gains at the expense of the other main candidate, Fernando
Henrique Cardoso. As the current president, Cardoso is seeking a
second term of office.
In recent days a series of opinion polls have shown both
candidates to be neck and neck. It was initially expected that
Cardoso would win easily.
While Cardoso's popularity has suffered, Lula is gaining
widespread support from left and radical groups, along with many
grassroots organisations. The endorsement of the MST appears to
confirm that Brazil's dispossessed have thrown in their lot with
the charismatic PT leader.
The endorsement of the MST was doubtless aided by the fact that
Lula has pledged himself to the cause of agrarian reform. Indeed,
such is the grossly inequitable nature of land distribution in
Brazil that many among the wealthy elite have expressed fears it
could well retard Brazil's drive for economic `modernisation.'
A recent study revealed that while Brazil possesses twice the
agricultural land of near neighbour Argentina, the country still
produces less. This disparity is blamed on the fact that huge
swathes of Brazil's productive land are held by large landowners.
These estates are notoriously unproductive and largely given over
to cattle, at the expense of people.
The MST, in its campaign to overturn the country's system of land
distribution, organises occupations of such estates, by families
of landless people.
Colombian death squads acting with impunity
On 16 May last, right-wing paramilitaries murdered 11 civilians
in northern Colombia. Not content with that slaughter, the
killers abducted a further 25 people. In early June, the charred
corpses of all 25 were found near the town of Barrancabermeja,
north of the capital Bogota.
This was just the latest in a series of grim atrocities committed
by the right-wing death squads, many of which took place in
northern Colombia.
Indeed, it was hardly a coincidence that the 25 corpses turned up
close to Barrancabermeja - the town functions as an outlet for
the export and transport of oil produced in the surrounding area.
In the past, Colombia's oil-producing regions have borne the
brunt of the activities of the death squads. Frequently, the
latter have targeted those viewed as opposing the large-scale
drilling operations: indigenous residents who have protested at
the seizure of their land to facilitate the operations of large
multinational oil companies, or union activists attempting to
organise the oil-producing workforce. Companies such as BP have
invested heavily in Colombia.
In response to the latest atrocity, residents of Barrancabermeja
- under the banner of the Workers' Union - paralysed the town and
its oil-producing facilities.
Although frequently identified by eyewitness testimony, the
right-wing killers are rarely caught. Hardly surprising given
that those charged with catching and arresting the perpetrators
are usually the army - in whose ranks many of the killers are to
be found. The intellectual authors tend to be higher up the chain
of command.
These have been a busy few weeks for the death squads. Recently,
the assassins paid a visit to the rural area of Murindo, again in
the north of the country. Thirty civilians were murdered and
houses destroyed. The army claimed the deaths had resulted from a
gunbattle between the death squads and guerrillas.
However, as is so often the case, eyewitness testimony confirmed
the victims had been unarmed and were given no opportunity to
defend themselves. The death squads have also successfully
terrorised the remaining civilian population in the area: it is
believed hundreds have fled or gone into hiding since the mass
murder.
In April, the gunmen claimed the lives of 17 people in Antioquia.
In May, a further 17 were murdered in the Meta region. The dead
were accused of aiding Colombia's left-wing insurgency. The
claim, true or otherwise, is frequently made by the death squads
in an attempt to provide retrospective legitimisation of their
terrorist activities. Towards the end of May, the killers struck
again, this time murdering 23 civilians in the Santander area.
One wonders at the reaction of the international community - not
least the self-proclaimed champions of human rights in Iraq, Iran
and elsewhere - had this appalling catalogue of murder been
committed by supposed left-wing insurgents. At the very least,
news bulletins would treat us to the gruesome details surrounding
each and every death, while threats of military intervention
would be loud and frequent.
As it is, the victims must be content with the anonymity that is
routinely accorded those murdered at the behest of the state and
powerful business interests.
d as for talk of military intervention? Recent Colombian press
reports claim the US is indeed about to intervene - on behalf of
the army, and their allies in the murderous death squads....
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