As a result of an old demand of the Rural Landless Workers Movement (MST) and for the first time in the country’s history, the Brazilian Executive Branch ordered the expropriation of the estate Nueva Alegria (New Joy) in Minas Gerais, after its owners were found guilty of several environmental crimes.

The decree signed by President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva will affect almost 1,200 hectares of land in the municipality of Felisburgo, which will be used for the agrarian reform through the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra). This state agency will have these lands at its disposal within the next 40 days.

Although this expression of political will is unprecedented in a South American country, the punishment for environmental damages is provided under the Brazilian Constitution of 1988.

In this case, the authorities blame estate owner Adriano Chafick for logging native forests to grow cattle, in violation of the laws in force.

The Incra believes that although the abuses in terms of deforestation are irreversible, these government decisions are useful to avoid similar damages in the future, while they clearly establish the social role of land.

But the crimes committed by the owners of Nueva Alegria were not only environmental crimes. In 2004, five MST activists who were participating in the occupation of a plot of land were murdered by gunmen hired by Chafick and other thirteen demonstrators were seriously injured.

Although there are positive signs to the government measures that aim at punishing these abuses, the violence in the Brazilian rural area continues being a common practice and many times the role of the authorities ends up being negative.

This morning in a press conference, the main social movements of Brazil firmly condemned the murder of Elton Brum da Silva, during the repression to the MST in San Gabriel municipality, Rio Grande do Sul state. There, it was announced that the coordination of social movements will carry out a vigil in honor to the memory of the victim as part of the campaign “we are all Elton Brum da Silva”.

Photo: http://www.galizacig.com