Rural violence: 2024 saw a record number of death threats
In Brazil, 2024 saw an increase in conflicts over land and water compared to 2023. Disputes rose from 1,724 to 1,768 and from 225 to 266 respectively, as per the annual report released Wednesday (Apr. 23) by the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), which warns of an increase in pesticide contamination and a record number of death threats.
The only category to shrink was labor conflicts, which concerns contemporary slave labor. Altogether, 151 incidents were identified last year—an issue, however, believed to be underreported.
Of the total number of conflicts over land registered last year, 1,624 were violence against occupation, with the state of Maranhão accounting for 363 cases—more than a fifth (21.6%)—followed by Pará (234), Bahia (135), Roraima (119), Amazonas (117), Mato Grosso (102), Mato Grosso do Sul (93), Acre (59), Goiás (49), and Tocantins (46).
The remainder of the conflicts over land were resistance actions—88 notifications.
Pesticide
Striking about the year surveyed is the sharp surge in pesticide contamination. From 2015 to 2023, the average stood at 24.3 per year. In 2024, all states showed an increase, and 276 were reported countrywide. Once again, Maranhão comes first, accounting for 228 of them (83.5%).
Fires, documented under conflicts over land, rose from 91 to 194 (113%), while illegal deforestation grew from 150 to 209 (39%). The study points out that the Amazon was the region most affected by both phenomena. Mato Grosso had 25 percent of the fires and Pará displayed most of the loss of vegetation (20%).
Victims
The main victims of violence in land disputes were indigenous people (29%), squatters (25%), quilombolas (13%), and members of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (11%).
The main perpetrators were landowners (44%), businessmen (15%), and the federal government (8%).
Violence against people
The survey also brings data on murders, attempted murders, death threats, and intimidation. Last year is said to have two notable pattern shifts—the sharpest drop since 2015 in murders, which totaled 13; and a record number of death threats, 272, also in the last ten years.
Also recurrent in rural violence are landowners as multipliers of aggression. Six of the 13 homicide cases (46%) were ordered by landowners.
In four of the murders involving landowners, police forces were found to have carried out the execution or supported the perpetrators. One of the killings was committed by an ex-military policeman who worked as a private security guard for a businessman, who ordered the crime.
