One of the states with the highest concentration of land in the country,
Mato Grosso has used its state apparatus to protect and privilegeagribusiness, also strengthening the practices of mining, deforestation
and poisoning of rivers, forests, animals and human beings. The history
of the state is marked by a long state structure, which facilitated the
concentration of land in the hands of agricultural barons. Something
that goes back to a series of programs implemented by different
governments, starting in the 20th century and intensifying during the
military dictatorship. Historically, this process involved the Green
Revolution, studies to improve the soil, the opening of highways, the
handover of land, many tax incentives and exemptions - public funds for
small family groups that to this day concentrate gigantic large estates
in Mato Grosso territory.
The public structure has financed and finances agribusiness since its
origins. In addition to financial incentives, both the state government
and institutional parties, deputies and senators have been investing in
public policies that, directly or indirectly, have benefited ruralists,
mining companies and real estate speculation.
Examples of this are the various Bills - already approved or in the
process of being processed - that make environmental laws more flexible
to expand areas of agriculture, mining, etc. Some of the most recent
are: the Complementary Law Project (PLC) 64/23, is already law and
allows the clearing of native vegetation areas, the legal reserve area,
for mining; Law 12,295/23 makes it difficult to destroy equipment used
in environmental crimes, benefiting those who commit deforestation and
burning; Bill (PL) 1363/2023 (popularized as "Zero Quota") has an impact
on the lives of more than 96 thousand people, who survive on family
income generated by fishing, also impacting the survival of traditional
communities ( riverside residents), who depend on fishing for their
food; and PLC 04/24, still being processed, which inserts a new article
to Complementary Law (LC) No. 38, of 1995, by which the "State
Secretariat for the Environment (SEMA) may authorize the reallocation of
a legal reserve within the same property rural, for the purpose of
developing agricultural activities".
In another line of action, the Mauro Mendes (União Brasil) government
intensifies the criminalization of social (urban, peasant and
indigenous) and environmental movements that fight for agrarian reform,
the demarcation of indigenous lands or the environmental protection of
rivers and forests. The governor has sought to limit the activities of
organizations that denounce deforestation and invests heavily in what he
calls "Zero Invasion", following the national logic of right-wing
politicians and Bolsonarists who act violently against occupations by
landless rural workers and against indigenous peoples who fight and
resist to not lose their territories. A supporter of Bolsonaro, the
governor says he has implemented a "zero tolerance policy against land
invasion". In addition to aggressive speeches in the media, Mauro Mendes
approved, in February 2024, Law 12,430/2024, which restricts social
rights - such as receiving assistance and benefits from state government
social programs, assuming public positions or contracts with the
government - for those who , according to him, is an "invader or
occupant" of rural or urban lands. The real objective of Mauro Mendes'
law is the weakening of landless rural workers, of people who occupy in
search of land to work and live, and who, due to their vulnerable social
condition, would be entitled to social assistance.
Meanwhile, agribusiness, logging and mining barons continue to make
billions in profits at the expense of deforestation, fires and
widespread poisoning by pesticides. Such as the case of cattle rancher
Claudecy Oliveira Lemes, recently denounced, who owns 11 farms in the
municipality of Barão de Melgaço, in Mato Grosso. According to the data
released, the rancher deforested 80 thousand hectares, carrying out
chemical defoliation by releasing tons of pesticides onto the preserved
forest and even using "Agent Orange" - a chemical weapon that was used
by the United States during the War in Vietnam. The case of cattle
rancher Claudecy Oliveira Lemes had repercussions at the end of the
action, but it is not isolated. There are several complaints about the
indiscriminate use of pesticides in the state, with research that points
to the harm brought to fauna, flora and human life. Among the evils, the
contamination of the breast milk of women in several regions close to
agricultural areas.
VIOLENCE AS A METHOD OF GUARANTEING PROFIT AND EXPANDING THE
AGRICULTURAL MONOPOLY
According to reports from the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) for 2022
and 2023, conflicts in the countryside increased by 61% from 2021 to
2022, with 51 conflicts in 2023. Indigenous people are the biggest
victims of this violence, followed by rural workers. One of the
important data from the 2023 report refers to the comparison between the
income growth of the richest elite with the growth of conflicts over
land. Between 2017 and 2023, Mato Grosso is the third state in which the
income of the richest grew the most: "Following Amazonas is Mato Grosso,
whose more restricted elite had their income increased by 115% and saw a
100% increase in the number of occurrences of conflicts over land
between 2017 and 2023, with most of the occurrences of conflicts being
located in the North of Matogrossense, also in the area of agricultural
frontier expansion" (Cedoc Dom Tomás Balduino/CPT). The practices of the
government of Mato Grosso, strengthened by state and federal deputies
and right-wing senators, by agricultural defenders and by companies in
the interested sectors, have also worked to intensify the actions of the
Rural Patrol of the Military Police in violence against occupations and
fights for land in the state, as well as to "justify" the offensive of
the jagunços hired by farmers.
On October 10, 2023, Campamento Renascer, in the municipality of
Jaciara/MT, suffered violent action by the Rural Patrol. Alongside the
police were land grabbers linked to Usina Porto Seguro and
Pantanal/Grupo Naoum. Without a court order, the Rural Patrol tore down
and destroyed the fences of one of the residents, who has lived in the
area for more than 10 years. Family farmers from the camp questioned and
filmed the police action. The Rural Patrol fired rubber bullets, punches
and kicks, leaving 10 people injured and arresting two more. Acampamento
Renascer is in an area already designated as a settlement, created by
the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) in
2004, but the families have not been able to be settled until today
because the area is occupied by the plant. The Federal Court has already
recognized that the area is owned by the Union and, therefore, was
destined for settlement. However, this cannot be achieved until the
writs of mandamus requested by the plant's land grabbers are resolved in
court. In other words, the action of the Rural Patrol, accompanied by
the land grabbers, clearly demonstrates who it and the State are at the
service of. Farmers also reported that the Patrol commander stated that
he was following orders from Governor Mauro Mendes. The plant also uses
the practice of spraying pesticides with small planes, hitting
plantations, contaminating the soil, peasants and other local residents.
Another episode of violence by the Military Police of Mato Grosso
occurred on May 27, 2024, when, also without a court order, police
evicted 74 families who occupied the Cinco Estrelas farm, in the
municipality of Novo Mundo, north of Mato Grosso . With attacks,
seizures of cell phones so that nothing could be recorded and brutality,
the Military Police of Mato Grosso (PMMT) arrested 10 rural workers, two
representatives of the CPT-MT, a priest and a public defender. A man who
lives on the outskirts of the farm had his house broken into and his arm
broken. Before the police took action, security guards from a private
security company - in reality, farm thugs - threw a tractor at the
families, who resisted. The families have been camping on the side of
the road for 20 years, at Camp União Recanto Cinco Estrelas, waiting for
the courts to authorize definitive settlement in one of the areas of
Fazenda Cinco Estrelas. The area has already been recognized as
belonging to the Union and destined for agrarian reform, according to a
court decision in 2020, but the land grabber, who claims to be the owner
of the land, filed a writ of mandamus. The PMMT, its Rural Patrol and
the Tactical Force formed a strong repressive apparatus, with seven
vehicles, bombs, large-caliber weapons, etc. According to reports from
those present, the major who commanded the operation said that the
police forces were called at the behest of the governor himself.
In these last two cases experienced in Mato Grosso, some elements that
have been operating in the practice of the State, farmers and
agricultural defenders are common. In both cases, evictions were carried
out and police were approached without a court order. Obviously, this
does not mean that having a court order would justify violence against
rural workers. It means that the Military Police and the State operate
within state protocols, finding loopholes that guarantee impunity. In
other words, whoever holds the monopoly on land and money is the one who
determines the legality and legitimacy of the repressive action.
In both cases, there was the presence of "private security guards" from
the farms - in fact, the farmers' gunmen -, acting with the police,
either at the same moment or minutes before the PMMT arrived. This
demonstrates how much the police and the State serve the interests of
the farmers and companies that grabbed the land, acting in an
orchestrated manner. In both cases, the land has already been identified
as belonging to the Union and destined for agrarian reform; farmers and
companies are in them illegally, falsifying documentation. Even so, the
courts do not speed up the process and do not comply with the
settlements already demanded. Justice has a side, obviously.
The violence of the Rural Patrol and the PMMT as a whole and the
irregularity of the farmers and companies that are "in possession" of
these areas were corroborated and facilitated by the practice of the
Mauro Mendes government. This practice involves triggering aggressive
speeches in the media - such as those carried out against indigenous
peoples in the state, in an offensive against the demarcations of
indigenous lands - and implementing policies that benefit barons in the
agricultural sector, the concentration of land and the criminalization
of those who fight for agrarian reform. With the practice of "zero
tolerance against invasions" or "zero invasion", repression, violence
and hatred are established. State action in Mato Grosso follows a
national historical line, whereby the capitalist-statist system supports
the defense of agribusiness and the concentration of land in the hands
of a few.
One of the graphs in the report "Conflicts in the field Brazil 2023ŽŽ,
by CPT, presents the evolution of the "categories that caused violent
actions" in the field from 2014 to 2023. The cases in which violent
actions were caused by the State and military forces increased
significantly between 2019 and 2023. In 2014, State and military forces
caused violence in 106 incidents; 2015, in 91 occurrences; 2016, at 146;
2017, at 115; 2018, at 153; 2019, in 215; 2020, in 723; 2021, at 283;
2022, in 402; 2023, in 440. The three categories that cause the most
violence in the countryside are farmers, businesspeople and
State/military forces. Among those most affected by this violence are
indigenous people and rural workers (CEDOC Dom Tomás Balduino - CPT.
Elaboração: LEMTO-UFF, 2024.).
Parallel to violence, environmental destruction is drastically
advancing. According to a survey by the National Institute for Space
Research (INPE), fires in the Pantanal increased by 1000% in the first
half of 2024; With the exception of 2020, it is the highest rate of
fires since 2010. The Paraguay River, the biome's main basin, is
experiencing a drastic drought, leading the National Water and
Sanitation Agency (ANA) to declare a "critical shortage situation" until
October. Meanwhile, businesspeople seek to increase the implementation
of Small Hydroelectric Power Plants (PCHs) aiming for greater profits.
Governor Mauro Mendes and his family have a special interest in the
authorization of PCHs, one of the reasons that motivated the Zero Quota
Law - by expelling small fishermen, the path becomes easier for PCHs.
This relationship has been repeatedly reported. The most recent
complaint is that a prosecutor, Marcelo Vachiano, coordinator of the
Technical Support and Environmental Execution Center of the State Public
Ministry of Mato Grosso, acted to benefit PCH projects in the Pantanal
in favor of the governor's son. During his two mandates, Mauro Mendes
and companies - mainly Maturati Participações SA, which intends to build
PCHs - have been putting pressure on institutions and public bodies to
make the installation of PCHs viable. Added to this pressure are the
Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Carlos Fávaro (PSD), putting
pressure on him since he was a senator, and the deputy federal deputy
Valtenir Pereira (MDB). There is a whole mafia that acts to "pass the
cattle" in Mato Grosso!
Just like other sectors that expropriate and profit within the
capitalist-statist system, Mauro Mendes follows the narrative's dispute
guide with high investments in propaganda. It has a strong staff,
supported by public funds, to disseminate and reinforce its narrative
that it follows international standards - the laws agreed in spheres
such as the UN - when dealing with the issue of the environment and
human rights. However, in practice, the reality is extremely different,
which has been the case since his first term. Even before! It is
possible to find complaints and investigations into the practices of
Mavi Engenharia e Construções, the Bipar group, of which Mauro Mendes
was licensed president, or Bimetal; groups accused of destroying the
environment and work similar to slavery in Cacoal/Rondônia. The Mauro
Mendes government heavily uses propaganda to divert focus from its
practices.
IT WILL NOT BE THROUGH THE CONCILIATION OF CLASSES AND WITHIN THE
CAPITALIST-STATIST SYSTEM THAT RIGHTS WILL BE GUARANTEED
The state of Mato Grosso is dominated by the right and extreme right
(represented by the staunchest defenders of Bolsonarism), agribusiness
entrepreneurs and mining companies. They promote the concentration of
land in the hands of those above, real estate speculation, exploitation
that leads to the poisoning and destruction of land, waters and forests.
They work to make environmental laws more flexible, defend the Temporal
Framework, make it impossible to demarcate indigenous lands and agrarian
reform in favor of real land workers. They act to promote unrestricted
opening to mining, install PCHs and Hydroelectric Plants (HUs),
destroying all local life; to guarantee state financing for
agribusiness; to criminalize and repress the struggle for land.
This scenario increasingly shows that the fight for land is an aspect of
the class struggle, and it requires fighting agribusiness, mining
companies, companies that concentrate land, the right and the extreme
right that defend agriculture and big farmers. In other words, it is
essential to fight those above. It's a fight to overthrow capitalism and
the State!
There are many attacks that the oppressed classes in the countryside, in
the forest and in the city suffer, in Brazil in general and in Mato
Grosso in particular. We are certain that class conciliation, at the
federal/state/municipal level, in no way favors the oppressed and the
oppressed in the countryside and the city, especially traditional and
original peoples. On the contrary, such a policy only weakens the
organization, struggle, resistance and fight against the
capitalist-statist system.
The illusions of the oppressed classes in the possibility of change via
bourgeois institutions have disarmed all struggles in defense of better
living conditions. They have also stopped any advance of social force
towards a process of rupture that leads us towards a social revolution.
The class struggle and the strengthening of the oppressed classes are
the paths to real social transformation!
https://socialismolibertario.net/2024/06/19/mato-grosso-celeiro-da-exploracao/
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