Violent land clashes up in Brazil under Lula-study
Source: Reuters
SAO PAULO, Brazil, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Violent clashes over land increased during Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's first term, disappointing rights groups that hoped the former union leader would alleviate rural tensions, a report issued on Thursday said. The report by 30 local human rights groups said 1,690 violent land disputes took place in Brazil this year. That represented an 83 percent increase over 2002, when Lula was first elected president on a platform of social justice and robust economic growth. Killings in the countryside were commonplace the last four years, the report said. At least 73 peasants were murdered in clashes over land since Lula took office, although the number of killings fell slightly this year in comparison with 2005. "The numbers are shameful," said Joao Paulo Rodrigues, a leader of the Landless Peasants Movement, or MST, Brazil's largest social movement. "The Lula government has not lived up to expectations when it comes to bringing justice to the countryside," said Rodrigues, whose group often occupies large plantations and public buildings to pressure the government to grant land titles to peasant families. Squabbles over land have long been common in Brazil, which is larger than the continental United States. Millions of Brazilians live in poverty but 1 percent of the population owns almost half the land, according to official data. The report, which is published annually, criticized the Lula administration for not doing more to stop the violence. It also said the government failed to live up to its promise to distribute more land to peasant families. Instead, it said the president favored big agribusiness interests over the poor, his traditional support base. The government says it is trying to strike a balance, encouraging both large-scale and family farming. The report praised the government for taking steps to crack down on forced labor but said the practice continued to thrive in parts of the country and even in large cities like Sao Paulo, where thousands of Bolivian immigrants work in slave-like conditions in clandestine clothing factories. It also said police brutality remained a major problem throughout the country, especially in crime-ridden cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It said authorities have not done enough to rein in so-called death squads, or groups of rogue police officers that roam cities killing suspected criminals.
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