Brazil politics: Land and environment issues present challenges

[struggle4progress]

<snip> The support for the government of the Partido Verde (PV, the Green Party), which was strained by the the GM issue, was finally ended by the issue of the deforestation of the Amazon. Data released by the Ministry of the Environment in May showed that in the 12 months to August 2004 over 26,000 sq km of forest had been cleared, a figure 6% higher than in the previous 12 months, and the second-highest rate on record. Most of the land deforested was in the state of Mato Grosso, where soya-exporting farms have increased rapidly. Federal police arrested 88 people there on June 2nd in connection with illegal logging operations. On May 19th the six deputies of the PV left the government coalition in protest. The party has become "independent" rather than joining the opposition, meaning that Gilberto Gil, its only cabinet member (at the Ministry of Culture) can remain in his post.

In contrast, the government has claimed that its strategies to combat deforestation in the Amazon region have been bearing fruit, claiming that 950,000 fewer trees were cut down in 2004 than in 2003. It has also been increasing the army presence in the region, as much for territorial and security reasons as for environmental protection. One long-standing land dispute was resolved when a presidential order on April 13th finally established the Raposa-Serra do Sol indigenous reservation of 1.7m ha in the northeast of the state of Roraima. This version of the reserve, in contrast to the one approved under Mr da Silva's predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, allows no enclaves and thus requires non-indigenous settlers in the area to move out. Conflict between different groups over the demarcation of the reserve led in April to one indigenous group taking four federal police officers hostage for nine days.

In the eastern Amazonian state of Para, Federal police have arrested four men accused of the murder of Sister Stang, a US nun who had been working to defend peasants against cattle ranchers and timber companies. There are two gunmen, one intermediary and the "intellectual author" of the crime, who gave himself up on March 27th.

The strains between the government and the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST, Landless Workers' Movement) have grown. The MST, which has traditionally been close to the PT, has continued to protest against the government's failure to meet its targets for land resettlement. On April 13th around 1,000 MST activists occupied the Ministry of Finance for several hours, and in May it launched a two-week protest, with around 12,000 activists marching the 180 miles from Goiania to the national capital, Brasilia. The demonstrators targeted the finance ministry, the Central Bank and the US embassy with protests not only against the slowness of land reform but also against the fiscal austerity which they see as imposed by the international financial institutions and the US. The marchers met with the president and briefly occupied the Chamber of Deputies. However, clashes between protesters and police outside the parliament building left 20 marchers and 11 police injured. <snip>

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