Protesters occupy World Cup construction company

Members of the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement (“MST”) occupied for 15 minutes the entrance hall leading to the offices of construction company Odebrecht, in the city of São Paulo. They joined the demonstrators from the collective Resistência Urbana (“Urban Resistance”), which staged protests Thursday (May 8) over social rights and against the spending on the World Cup.

The firm is in charge of the construction of the Itaquerão stadium, also called Corinthians arena, scheduled to host the first match of the international competition.

“Odebrecht makes billions from the World Cup, on the blood of construction workers and the money of all of us,” a banner held by a demonstrator reads. Another poster shows the picture of Odebrecht’s director-president and the sentence: “Out, Odebrecht!”

In the view of Kelly Maffort, an MST member, one of the obstacles to land reform in the country is the allotment of only 0.15% for this policy. “This is an extremely low percentage, and it sinks further and further down every year, but the Brazilian state has worked hard in high investments on large-scale events, like the World Cup,” she said. She also opposes the fact that public resources are being earmarked for companies.

Maffort further noted that Odebrecht, despite being known mostly for its enterprises in construction, is also connected with agribusiness through the company ETH, which operates in the sugar-alcohol sector, in Pontal do Paranapanema, in the western end of the state, for instance. The region is known for conflicts over land and forged land deeds.

Agência Brasil tried to contact the construction firm for comments on the protest, but there was no response up to the publication of this article.

Another demonstration was scheduled to take place during the visit of President Dilma Rousseff at Itaquerão. The act was called off because the federal government agreed to hear the protesters’ demands for social improvements and against the spending on the World Cup, reported Guilherme Boulos, one of the coordinators of the Homeless Workers’ Movement.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira