Death toll from rural conflicts up in 2015
Activists in the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST) during a demonstration for agrarian reform in Brasília,
The number of murders resulting from conflicts in rural areas in 2015 was the largest in the past 12 years in Brazil. According to the annual land issue report released by the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), there were 49 killings, most of them in the North region.
According to the commission, the data is still incomplete, and figures may increase with the addition of on-site survey data which will be available later this month. The number of deaths from rural conflicts in the country last year was the largest since 2003, when 73 killings were reported.
Most of the cases occurred in the Amazon states of Rondônia (21) and Pará (19), according to the survey. Victims were most often land rights activists, including a family from Pará, whose five members were killed with machetes and gunfire in February last year.
“Brazil's North region is a powder keg,” said CPT Coordinator Plácido Junior, who was responsible for gathering the data. “In addition to the advance of agribusiness, we believe the rising tension in the country may be related to greater competition for resources like timber and water, the execution of large mining and energy projects, and the decrease in the number of land tenure assignments and demarcations.”
Impunity adds further to the concerns. The CPT reports that out of 1,115 homicide cases resulting from rural conflicts occurring between 1985 and 2014, only 12 were prosecuted.
While conceding that rural tensions increased in 2015, the Ministry for Agrarian Development (MDA) contended that, according to the National Agrarian Ombudsman, only 16 killings stemmed from rural conflicts last year. The statistical inconsistency can be explained by methodological differences.
MDA said it has put in place a range of initiatives to prevent rural conflicts, and 110 police operations were conducted to counter rural violence in 2015, especially in north Brazil.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Death toll from rural conflicts up in 2015
