On Tuesday (6th), Michel Temer, President of the Chamber of Deputies and Government and opposition leaders, criticized the invasion of MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem-Terra - Landless Peasant Movement) in a productive farm in the countryside of the state of São Paulo.

About 250 families occupied the farm of the company Cutrale, nearby the city of Lençóis Paulista, with the aim of persuade the National Institute of Land Reform - INCRA (Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária) to accelerate the process of land reform in the region. In the last days, the landless people destroyed seven thousands of orange trees in the farm.

Cutrale, the biggest exporter of orange juice in the world, issued a press note stating that the farm is productive and generates jobs in the region. The MST intends to replace the orange trees for corn and bean plantations, claiming that the area is public and the company occupies it in an irregular way.

The Democrats Party (DEM) will insist on the establishment of a Joint Investigative Committee (CPMI) to investigate the MST actions.

MST and FARC
Deputy Ronaldo Caiado (GO), leader of the DEM, denounced the supposed support of Guilherme Cassel, Minister of the Land Development, for the actions of the Movement and announced a new signatures’ collect for the installation of the Joint Parliamentary Committee of Investigation to investigate the MST.

According to him, the MST, today “is, in fact, the Brazilian FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) maintained and financed with public funds. It is obvious that he (the Minister Cassel) did not want to open a Joint Investigative Committee, since we identified the pass-through that he accomplished to all entities that sponsor the MST”.

PT rejects the insinuations
Deputy Cândido Vaccarezza (SP), leader of the Workers’ Party (PT), replied the insinuations of government members’ participation in MST actions and evaluates that the invasion of the farm in the countryside of the state of São Paulo must be carefully analyzed.

"MST does not have the tradition of occupying a productive land. From a general point of view, I think that everything should lead to an agreement than to a confrontation. So, we are analyzing the facts very carefully.”

Reporting – José Carlos Oliveira/The Chamber's Radio Station
Edition – Newton Araújo
Translation - Grupo Solucion-SP Language/Maria Carolina Ogata