Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) attacked in Minas Gerais

Seven unknown men armed with guns invaded the Terra Prometida camp, in Felisburgo

city, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and killed five members of the

Brazilian Landless Workers Movement movement (MST). The Terra Prometida camp

had been invaded by the MST in May 2002 and there were about 200 MST families

living there at the time of the attack.

According to the Brazilian newspaper Agência Folha, police said 13 of the

members of the MST movement were injured and five died. Four of them are still

hospitalized. Two of them, Joaquim Batista da Silva and his son (a 12-year-old

child), are in the Felisburgo Municipal Hospital. The other two, Valdemar

Barbosa Lima and José Maroto Lima, are in the Santa Rosária Hospital in

Teófilo Otoni city.

According to MST camp leaders the gunfighters set fire to MST tents and started

shooting.

The police are investigating the case. The Workers

Party (PT) has demanded the gunfighters' arrest and punishment.

The MST is an ideologically diverse movement of

agricultural workers in Brazil officially founded in 1984. MST is for the equitable redistribution of Brazilian farmland. According to MST, in

2003 there were about 632 MST camps in Brazil. MST is a large organization with many bases throughout

Brazilian cities. Their most visible tactic has been the occupation of mostly

privately-held plantations and landholdings, sometimes armed with carving knifes

and scythes.

Currently, MST receives help from the Brazilian government and donations from

international organizations. The movement also receives funds by selling

videos of their invasions.

Overall, a recent report on labor standards in Brazil has shown that conditions

for laborers are poor

.