A leadership that was at the head of families of squatters and (PA), one of the places with the most agrarian conflicts in the country, was murdered on the morning of Friday (18). The information was released by Contraf (National Confederation of Workers and Workers in Family Farming).
The minister (agrarian development and family farming) also issued a statement about Ronilson de Jesus Santos’ “cowardly murder”.
The death occurred in the area of PDS (Sustainable Development Project) Virola Jatobá, according to information from Contraf.
This rural settlement, which starts from the principle of the need for preservation of the development of family farming, is in the same region where the missionary, agent of the CPT (Pastoral Terra Commission), was murdered just over 20 years ago on February 12, 2005.
Dorothy was killed by disrupting plans for farmers in the region. Twenty years later, the Anapu region and rural settlements in the course of the course are marked by violence in the dispute for the land.
On February 11, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Dorothy’s murder, he showed that PDS Virola Jatobá is one of five settlements in the region with most recurring conflicts, according to CPT agents.
The report showed that the violence is more noticeable in Virola Jatobá, with the presence of invaders cleaning areas, rounds of people linked to farmers and land grabbers, action by loggers and acting of squatters with more economic power than settlers.
According to Incra, the settlement where Dorothy was murdered and the PDS Virola Jatobá – created in 2004, the eve of the death of the missionary – do not have formal acts of consolidation, but are considered definitive by virtue of a 2018 decree, which considers a consolidated settlement after 15 years of implantation.
There is an action in justice related to the settlement, and Incra tries to remove invaders.
According to the CPT in Anapu, Ronilson was not a leadership of Virola Jatobá settlers. He was ahead of about 80 families who occupied a PDS forest area, according to the CPT. The place was called the Pacuru Valley camp.
Ronilson, according to reports from pastoral agents, sought help in the face of threats he suffered in the region by gunmen. There is pressure from loggers and land grabbers in the areas, as well as acting of soy producers, according to the reports made.
An attempted solution with Incra (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) was scheduled for May, to be led by Ronilson, according to the CPT.
CPT members stated that the man washed clothes when he was murdered. It was found by one of the children, who returned from the purchase of fish. Neighbors say they heard shots, and it is not known how many shots they would have been made. The fear manifested by the CPT is that settlement families run the same risk.
According to Minister Paulo Teixeira, Ronilson was a leader at Contraf and had his wife and three young children.
“The region is the scene of conflicts between farmers and loggers. We are taking steps to ensure that the crime is not unpunished,” he wrote in his X account.
The Minister of Government (PT) said he had talked to Ualame Machado, Secretary of Public Security of the Government of Pará, (MDB). “I talked to the secretary to ask for investigation and protection from other farmers. He pledged to send agents to the scene.”
The camp should be included in the Human Rights Defenders Protection Program, according to the minister.
“Crime directly affects a territory of struggle and resistance from family farming and land reform, and the peoples of the forest,” said the counterfra.
