Brazil: Landless Movement announces new day of struggle

Havana, April 12 (RHC) - The Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) announced the 26th National Day of Struggles in Defense of Agrarian Reform, which will have concentrated activities from April 17 to 20.

As reported by members of the organization at a press conference, the call includes marches, assemblies and other political events in different states of Brazil, as well as some land occupations in specific places.

"As a complaint, we reaffirm this path now in 2023, reinforcing here that our motto for this year is: Against hunger and slavery; for land, democracy and the environment", they announced during their speech.

They also reaffirmed that "when talking about agrarian reform, we are talking about democracy, but also about a social project that needs deeper transformations, but which obviously involves the fight for agrarian reform."

In addition, the peasant leader, João Paulo Rodrigues, added that the organization will present complaints about the occurrence of labor exploitation similar to slavery in certain areas of the country.

Said period is framed within the well-known “Red April”, in reference to the stage in which the entity carries out more public activities related to the peasant agenda.

These recall the well-known Eldorado dos Carajás Massacre, which occurred on April 17, 1996, the date on which the Brazilian Military Police, in the midst of a strong repressive action in the state of Pará, attacked participants in a march of workers from the organization, leaving 21 of them dead and another 69 with injuries.

The massacre went down in history as one of the bloodiest crimes committed against peasants in the world and turned April 17 into a milestone in the struggle of the landless. (Source: Telesur)