aken prisoners with no rights, tortured and humiliated”, said monsignor Dominique You, bishop of the dioceses of Santíssima Conceição do Araguaia, Pará state, to describe the violence suffered by a group of ‘sem terra’ (landless) who were attacked by the police a few days ago in various agricultural factories in the southern part of the region.
“Between November 19 and 21 – said a note received by MISNA signed by monsignor You – many families in southern Pará have witnessed tragic moments”.
The local press confirmed that a police operation, codenamed ‘Paz no campo’, was launched aiming to ‘stabilize’ several areas leading to a deployment of armed forces. This operation has been formally linked to the alleged infiltration of criminal groups in the 'sem terra' camps and the presence of some armed militias in parts of the region’s agro-factories (fazendas).
“Nevertheless – said the note – in the Fazenda Forquilha, in Santa Maria das Barreiras, physical and moral torture has resurfaced which we had already seen in the past; our people have been victims of arbitrary imprisonments and humiliations of all types; many innocents have been mistreated without respect as if they are all criminal, even all of us are well aware that the vast majority of these people is poor, honest and dreams of cultivating a land that the law has given to them a long time ago”.
(From MISNA)