‘ES recognized the need to fight against the MST’

At the Holy Spirita State that has agriculture as one of its main economic pillars, a bill was approved that provides for the implementation of mechanisms to punish invaders of private property. The vote took place on April 22, about five days after activists from the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) invaded a farm in the municipality of São Mateus.

Even with a court order to repossess the land, issued on April 17, the “occupation” only ended on April 30, totaling 14 days. On their social networks, the invading group claimed that the militants managed to show that the property was unproductive. Fazenda Coqueirinho, however, grows macadamia nuts and houses a factory.

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Even though this is not the case with property, the ES Agriculture Secretariat estimates that the majority of rural properties belong to farming families, representing 75% of the total. In other words: when there are land invasions in rural areas of ES, MST militants harm both the livelihood of producers and employees and the peace of mind in homes.

The matter caught the attention of Legislative Assembly of Espírito Santo (Ales) and the president of the House, Marcelo Santos (Podemos), who determined the analysis of the matter in light of the situation in São Mateus. The proposal was supported by the majority of Ales — of the 30 parliamentarians, only three were against the approval of PL 166/2023, authored by the deputy Lucas Polese (PL-ES).

In the extraordinary session that defined the vote, Polese argued that sanctions are necessary to discover who supports and finances the MST invasions in the State, which allows legal measures and results in a reduction in these episodes.

In an interview with West, he was pleased with the approval of the project and stated that the measures reflect the thinking of the people of Espírito Santo: “It is necessary to defend rural producers and fight against the MST”. Now, the project depends on the approval of governor Renato Casagrande (PSB), historically aligned to the left.

Check out the main excerpts from the interview below.

How did the idea of ​​formulating a bill that aims to punish land invaders in Espírito Santo come about?

The idea for the PL arose after the MST invaded a farm in Aracruz, in April 2023, where I was personally and was attacked. The militants recognized me and vandalized my car. I’m a farmer, I come from a family of farmers and we know well the way the MST acts: to invade and steal private property. Since I took office as deputy, there have been more than three “occupations”. We managed to register the urgency of the proposal after an invasion in Mimoso do Sul, at the beginning of this year. However, as other invasions took place, the Legislative Assembly began to recognize the need to respond to rural producers.

In your assessment, what are the main points of the bill?

The project changes the range of stimuli that these criminals have. From the moment the attacker is caught and catalogued, he begins to respond to a process that, ultimately, will lead to him not receiving social aid and government programs. He will also not be able to participate in agreements, competitions, contracts or bids. He will no longer be able to hold commissioned positions in public authorities. In all the invasions I went to, those who coordinated were political advisors.

In your opinion, was there any other type of punishment missing against land invaders in the final text?

It was not possible to include a prison sentence, as it is criminal legislation. Only Brasília can act in this case. We aim for administrative sanctions, which is where we can act. My dream is to create a law so that these criminals are punished with prison. However, I cannot do this as a state deputy.

For now, the project that was approved by the deputies has not yet been sanctioned by governor Renato Casagrande. What do you expect from him?

Unfortunately, we know that Casagrande will not act. However, what can help is for the governor to sanction the law and instruct security forces to comply with it. Put out the invaders. We really need to have a government aligned with this agenda. In São Paulo, for example, there is no law like this, but Tarcísio de Freitas is much more active. There, invasions don’t even last 24 hours.

Linked to agriculture and author of the project that aims to punish land invaders, you were recently appointed coordinator of the Zero Invasion Movement in Espírito Santo. How is this new role going?

I am honored that the group members have entrusted this role to me. Invasão Zero already has many followers here in the State, and the union between producers helped a lot in combating the latest MST invasions. In order to advance the agenda against a criminal group that invades property, we need political coordination and articulation. And having a movement like this, focused solely on this, will undoubtedly bring many results, as it is already doing.