After a meeting without an agreement with the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA) and the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra), movements of rural workers announced this Thursday (2) that the occupation of the municipality in Maceió (AL) will continue . The seizure of the body’s headquarters by around 400 peasants from seven organizations is in its fourth day.
The protest against the destructuring of the body and the slowness of agrarian reform policies has as its main demand the replacement of the recently installed superintendent of Incra in Alagoas. Junior Rodrigues do Nascimento was nominated by Arthur Lira (PP-AL). Nascimento filled the seat of Wilson César de Lira Santos, cousin of the president of the Chamber of Deputies, also appointed through him.
The dismissal of Arthur Lira’s family member – who took office during the administration of Michel Temer (MDB), going through the entire government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) – was demanded by the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) since the beginning of this year. mandate of President Lula (PT). After more than a year of pressure, the replacement was met on April 16, during the MST’s traditional day of struggles – but it was not satisfactory.
Last Monday (29), then, Incra’s headquarters in Maceió was occupied by members of the MST, the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), the Social Struggle Movement (MSL), the Popular Struggle Movement (MPL), the Movimento Land, Work and Freedom (MTL), Free Land Movement and National Struggle Front (FNL).
In a statement, the organizations state that the occupation aims to “put pressure on the federal government to resume agrarian reform policies in Alagoas.” They also highlight that the name of Júnior Rodrigues do Nascimento “represents the continuity of Bolsonarism in the body”.
After César Lira’s dismissal, the person who took over as superintendent’s replacement for a few days was the agronomist and career civil servant José Ubiratan Rezende Santana, a name defended by the MST to take over the position permanently. The setup lasted, however, just over a week. On April 24, Ubiratan was dismissed.
Before becoming superintendent, Nascimento was in charge of Naturagro, an NGO that has been providing services to Incra since 2020. The most recent technical cooperation agreement was signed on March 11th.
“No progress”, occupation continues
A meeting between the occupants and representatives of MDA and Incra took place this Wednesday afternoon (1). “An agenda with six points was presented and, as we had no progress, we decided to maintain the occupation”, highlights Margarida da Silva, from the MST’s national coordination.
“For this reason, organizations continue to demand from the federal government that agrarian reform in Alagoas needs to advance. For the development of settlements, the creation of new settlements. We have had camps in Alagoas for more than 20 years waiting for a piece of land to be able to work “, highlights Silva.
The report asked both bodies for a position, but had no response by the time this article was written. The space remains open and the text will be updated if there is a return. When the property was occupied, the MDA informed the Brazil in fact which “does not agree on positions with social movements”.
The department that houses Incra also said that “the guidance for all managers is to have a good dialogue with rural representatives on public policies aimed at family farming and agrarian reform”.
The movements, in a statement released this Thursday (2), state that they will not leave the occupation as they “require political representation to continue the demands of the struggle for land and territory”.
“We are awaiting a position from minister Paulo Teixeira (PT) and the national president of Incra [César Aldrighi] about what steps will be taken with agrarian reform in Alagoas in this new moment we are living in”, says Margarida da Silva, from the MST.
Editing: Nicolau Soares
