WEBVTT

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[music]

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[music]

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The story begins here on the
banks of the rivers Araguaia

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and Tocantins on the eastern
border of the Amazon Basin.

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It is an area where much of the rain forest

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has been cleared for large cattle ranches and agro
businesses encouraged by the Brazilian government.

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The area was first opened in the 1970s

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on this road a Belem …
Brasilia was driven 1000 miles

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from the capital Brasilia
northwards to Belem.

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Vast amounts of forests were cleared.

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[sil.]

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Forest was cleared to encourage cattle ranches, but in fact
the ranches profits really came from government subsidies.

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To encourage development
the Brazilian government

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returned 25% of the ranches taxes
if it would clear the land.

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When a ranch was subsidized it usually
hung out a sign for claiming the source

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of its subsidy, normally the
development agency of Sudam.

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The 35000 acre Bella Vista ranch

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was subsidized by Sudam. It was
owned by the Comarca Corporation.

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The ranch should cut down more than
12000 acres for cattle pasture.

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The rest was left for forest,
until they needed it.

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The forest land had been invaded
by Squatters, part of Brazil\'s

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12 million landless poor. They roamed the
Amazon looking for any piece of land.

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If they stay on it for five years
according to Brazilian law

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it is theirs.

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Since they were forced of the
land in southern Brazil,

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most has spent years fighting
they get a piece of land.

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Where did you come from? Minas Gerais?

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Why? I came looking for land to work.
Didn\'t you have land there?

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No. Where did you come from?
Ceres in Goiás.

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How many years have you been here? Four
years. Did you have land there? No.

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Where did you come from? Minas Gerais.

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How long have you been here?
20 years. In this holding?

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Three years. Did you have
land in Minas Gerais? No.

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Where did you come from?
Formosa in the south of Goiás.

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How long have you been here? Eight months.
When we first met them in 1987

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they had been given an ultimatum
from the owner of the Bella Vista,

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get off the land by the end of the month.
And we hired gunmen to backup his threat.

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From past experience this quarters
knew bloodshed was certain

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and began moving their families and
made their possessions to safety

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before they anticipated battle.
Where are you going?

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I\'m taking out our things before the 30th.
Why? Because the rancher says

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we must leave before the 30th.

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I\'m taking my things to neighbors, because
the rancher\'s deadline is the 30th.

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After that he\'ll drive
out anyone still here.

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[sil.]

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The gunmen began by setting
fire to the Squatters homes.

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[sil.]

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The gunmen had burned the house in our
lying forest. The squatter said the gunmen

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had already burned 20 houses. The
gunmen came to burn these houses.

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[sil.]

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There was a chair here

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and three beds, there are springs.

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Is that a sewing machine?

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Yes, that\'s right. Was it your wife\'s?

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Yes. It was. With their
families safely sent away

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a man gathered for the shootout. Have you
all decided to stay? We\'re going to stay,

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there\'s nowhere else to go.

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They want to drive us into
the state of Amazonas.

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But it\'s no good for us there. They put
us amongst the malaria and the Indians.

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There we die quickly, so we prefer to stay.

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But in their desperation for
land it decided to fight back.

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[sil.]

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They set fire

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the rancher\'s pasture.

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[sil.]

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And they finally marched down a newly
built road daring the gunmen to attack.

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They thought

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of burning a bulldozer, but most of them argued
this would put them on the wrong side of the law.

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[sil.]

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So instead they destroyed
this bridge to stop

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the bulldozer from coming any
closer to their clearings.

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[sil.]

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When is the deadline up? Tomorrow.
Today is the last day he gave us.

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Have many people left?

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Just the people who lived beside the road.

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They\'re frightened he might get them.

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Then they fired warning shots

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of the gunmen.

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[sil.]

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The Squatters wanted to hold the gunmen

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away long enough to prove their case that
the ranch was not being worked and was held

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just for speculation. In fact

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the ranchers buildings were empty except for the
professional gunmen and a contingent of state police

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who were sent into protect the ranch.

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And so as the watching and waiting
continued. A group of Squatters headed

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to the local town to press
their case in public.

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The Squatters went to
the town of (inaudible)

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where the federal ministry for Agrarian
reform was reviewing the rancher\'s status

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as a rural enterprise on legal
basis for its tax subsidies

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and its police protection. The
Squatters wanted the governor

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to remove the police from the ranch. He could do
that if the Bella Vista wasn\'t really living up

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to its legal status as a rural enterprise.

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The ministries regional
head was (inaudible)

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I believe from our information

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and from the documentation we\'re taking to
the governor that he\'ll order the police

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to withdraw. The documentation they had

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was this report by government inspectors. It
shows that the ranch received the equivalent

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of a million dollars in subsidies. And it
further shows the ranch was barely living up

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to the government requirements.
Few cattle the pasture degraded

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and buildings which were falling apart.
In fact since 1980,

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the owner had sold all the cattle
and virtually abandoned the ranch.

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[sil.]

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He lived over a 1000 miles away in
this well guarded and expensive home.

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The principle owner of
the Comarca Corporation,

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(inaudible).

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Back at the Bella Vista
the deadline passed.

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As the summer wore on the Squatters
burned the degraded pasture of the ranch

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and also the patches of
forest they had cut down.

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[sil.]

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The burning continued,
There the spark became

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thicker and heavier.

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[sil.]

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And at times on August the 21st
the sun was barely visible

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and the waiting ended.

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That was the day the Squatters decided to
recover the body of one of their compatriots

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who had been murdered by the gunmen.

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They\'re nervous

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because they know the gunmen often
use corpses to set ambushes.

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[sil.]

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The tension was high enough
to set of this false alarm.

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[sil.]

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Their leader

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Huati (inaudible) Faria Lima explained
how the squatter was killed.

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It\'s (inaudible) our
companion for eight years.

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They killed him, the greatest treasury.
Who killed him?

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Gunmen of the Bella Vista ranch

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when he went to buy sugar and
kerosene, they surrounded him

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with a greatest cowardice and killed him.
Why did he kill him?

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Because we\'re Squatters and
he\'s paid by the rancher.

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He has cover from the judge of (inaudible)

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and from Major Gibson, commander of the state police.
And from Erie Rogaros (inaudible) the governor,

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so there\'s no one else to appeal to.

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We wanted to recover the body. But
the gunmen weren\'t ambush over it.

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It\'s seven days since we\'ve registered
the complaint with the police.

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But the Sheriff replied he
didn\'t have police to send

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a car nor petrol.

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[sil.]

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They were using brass cartridges
with gunpowder and shot

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against the gunmen\'s modern weapons.

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[sil.]

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Brazil\'s 12 million landless poor
are so desperate for farm land

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that many are willing to die for it.

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[sil.]

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One man had already died for this
impoverish sandy Amazonian soil

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and the rest would go
on risking their lives.

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[sil.]

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Inevitably there would be more killing.

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The next to be killed was one
of the Squatters leaders,

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Juang Murara (inaudible).
He was beaten to death,

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brutally according to his son.

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How did they kill him? With clubs. When?

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Thursday. Do you know who killed him?

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The rancher Juan De (inaudible) killed.

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But you stay here even after
your father\'s assassination?

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Yes. I won\'t leave.

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[sil.]

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He died for us, so we won\'t
leave his work for others.

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The squatters tried to
return to their work.

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[sil.]

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Eventually the governor ordered
the state police to leave.

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The gunmen now

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surrounded and numbered. The squatters
increased their petrol and set up ambushes.

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[sil.]

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What are you doing here? We\'re watching
the road for the rancher\'s gunmen,

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otherwise there is no way we can work.

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If they pass here what will you do?
Kill them.

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If they pass will you shoot?
Our plan is to shoot.

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[sil.]

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Now deprived to police
protection the five gunmen

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and the rancher did not come out for weeks.

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Then one night

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the abandoned the ranch and slipped
quietly way down the river.

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[sil.]

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And so the squatters won.

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It was a rare victory. And even though
Brazil has enough underused land

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like at this ranch to settle three million
families it\'s unusual for squatters

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ever to get it.

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[sil.]

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A box of bullets.

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They killed him. Yes.

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What have you found? A list
of the police who are here?

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Did you know them?

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Sergeant Bolivio (inaudible) was
one of the police who beat me.

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This was where they tied the squatter,

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Antonio Savino (inaudible)
with his hands behind him.

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They beat him with riffles

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and tie the rope around his neck
and suspended him from above.

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These are bullet holes

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where they shot.

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[sil.]

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The squatters destroyed the Sudam
signs and blocked the airstrip

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the rancher and his gunmen
used to fly into the ranch.

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[sil.]

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[non-English narration]

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Now what has happened to all of you?

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All that we lag

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is a land agency deed for each of us.

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I don\'t believe the rancher will come back

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or send in

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gunmen again. Do you all believe this?

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Yes. But why it was a victory
for the squatters? The murders

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of their two compatriots (inaudible)
Juang Morara remained unsolved. No one

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has been arrested.

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It was a pattern of killing an
assassination that would continue

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throughout the area.

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Three hundred miles down the river is the huge
Tucuruí Dam the fourth largest in the world.

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[sil.]

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When it was completed in 1984, it turned

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1500 square miles of
forest into a graveyard.

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[sil.]

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It also submerged

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the old riverside town of Jacundá.

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[sil.]

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So its inhabitance were moved to new Jacundá
not far away and what had been forest.

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Here in the territory around new Jacundá

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another bloody land feud was underway.

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(inaudible)

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has just received news that another
squatter has been assassinated.

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[sil.]

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Do you know this man? It\'s
not who they said it was.

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[sil.]

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Do you recognize this? Yes.

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Whose is it? Who is Jua (inaudible)?
The dead man there,

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we can Jua Vatin (inaudible).
It was in his hand.

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Yes. What happened? The men arrived

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and asked for his gun, but Jua said
he didn\'t have it to kill anyone.

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He said leave it with me.
I\'m not a squatter.

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I have nothing to do with this.
So they shot him.

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Where? In the mouth, it blew teeth

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in every direction.

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A coldblooded murder and the dead
man appeared to have nothing

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to do with the dispute. Later it would come
out that the gunmen had picked their victim

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of passing hunter, completely at random. They
had killed him in order to panic the squatters.

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[sil.]

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And it worked. The next day the squatters leaders,
Sebastian Pereira (inaudible) fled with his family.

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But he was ambushed at
the end of this path.

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His three year old son Clazio
(inaudible)was shot first,

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then the gunmen chased Sebastian
and blew off the top of his skull.

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In the Jacundá hospital

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the postmortem showed the
brutality of the killings.

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Clearly they were intended to
increase and spread the terror.

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Doctor, what\'s the cause of death?

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Both bodies have various lesions,

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probably from a firearm

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of multiple project dimensions. Maria Dijesis
(inaudible) was with her husband and child

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when they were shot down.
He said my god will I die

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at the hands of the assassins?

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He shouted, put the blame on me,

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not my son. Don\'t kill my son, my son,

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but he ended up dying too.

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They fired six shots at me, with
me rolling away on the ground.

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When they saw they couldn\'t get me
they said let\'s kill the old man.

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He ran with the child on his shoulders with
them shooting and shouting kill the old man.

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The old man had a distance,

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I heard the screams of the child.
And then father shouted

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and fell. The police then

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let the dead man\'s family
collect his belongings.

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[sil.]

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The family said that the attack had worked.
The other squatters

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had fled in terror deeper into the jungle.

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[sil.]

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In Nova Jacundá squatters
and their supporter

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held rallies. If I\'m not wrong,

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this is the fourth time
we\'ve come out on this road

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to bury our dead.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
The daughter-in-law of the murdered man

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
delivered an angry call for justice.

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
Have hidden behind her is Juan Batista (inaudible)
and State Deputy who defends squatters;

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
he was under constant
threat of assassination.

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
[sil.]

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
Paulo Joniel

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
(inaudible) who will also be threatened
and go in to hiding is the Paris priest.

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
This is the most intensive focus
of conflict and massacres,

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
houses burnt, plantations
burnt, child slaughtered,

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
women raped. It\'s a daily part of
these people\'s lives, it\'s a war

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
that\'s undeclared, but unfortunately
it goes on every day.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
How many people have died in
the South of Pará this year?

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
It\'s hard to list the name, but
probably it\'s more or less

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
50 workers and union
leaders killed this year.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
In fact by the end of that year,
154 Brazilian rural workers

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
and leaders have been assassinated
in similar conflicts.

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
At the Jacundá police station, Maria Dijesis (inaudible)
who had lost both her young son and husband

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
went through the ordeal once again telling her
story in order to bring the murderers to justice.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
[sil.]

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
When it happened what did you do?

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
I ran with this one and
another seven years old.

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
From the forest we heard lots of shots.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
[sil.]

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
Sebestiao hid behind that tree
stem and they killed him.

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
There was a big knife in his side;

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
the blade was up to head.

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
[sil.]

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
They tore out his eyes.

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
They tore out his eyes? Sebestiao\'s wife told
the Sheriff that after the two gunmen ran away,

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
just saw two other man
watching the killings.

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
Did you see (inaudible)? I saw them.

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
She accused two brothers of
ordering the assassination

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
of her husband and child, sawmill owner Eminiho Branko
(inaudible)) and his younger brother Guaqn Jose (inaudible).

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
Guaqn claimed he own the land
where the squatters lived,

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
since the shooting he had vanished.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
But, his older brother
agreed to answer questions.

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
He said he had nothing to do with the conflict,
but that before the murder he did go

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
to the squatter Sebestiao and ask
him to leave his brother\'s land.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
But I got involved, asked
Sebestiao to leave

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
for the good of his children ad mine.

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
There was a conflict and I wanted to
stay in my business and property.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
I would have problems,

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
so I am good, made his offers

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
to avoid this conflict, but the reply was

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
that they wouldn\'t leave,
even if there was bloodshed.

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
[sil.]

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
His younger brother Guaqn
had tried drive the mount,

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
the squatters marched up this road and smashed one of the
ranch building, they had also left a challenging notice,

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
Mr. Guaqn, you said we were
frightened of you, you are wrong.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
It was they who were threatening,

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
the person who threatens
is like a dog that barks,

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
maybe you must hit it make it go away
or you have to shut up and keep quiet.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
Slowly the police investigation
began to put evidence together;

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
they decided to dig up the
hunter\'s body for a postmortem.

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
[sil.]

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
The cause of death was the destruction

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
of the cranium by bullets.

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
And the Sheriff now said he knew who
was responsible for the murder.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
Obviously I expect to prove it and put
them where they should be, in jail.

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
He is called Guaqn Jose,

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
not only do I know, but all
the police of Paris know,

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
also all the people of this municipality
know that he was responsible.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
A young woman who worked
at older brother\'s sawmill

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
then came forward to tell us very
nervously what she had seen here.

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
What did you do? Wash out,
clean the house, wash clothes

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
and take food to the gunmen. She said
another worker Zakarias (inaudible)

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
told her Guaqn gave orders to the gunmen.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
Did you see him there? Yes,
he spent two days there.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
She said she was told the gunmen
had killed a man and a child,

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
and believe the story. Why do you think
that they were linked to the murders?

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
[sil.]

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
Because every night they went
to where the squatters were.

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
Zakarias also went one day. Did they go on?

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
Zakarias bought three guns
in the shop in Jacundá,

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
he said there will be war, he said there
will be war there at the squatters.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
The nearby town of Imperatriz
is notorious for its gunmen,

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
it was here we found Guaqn the younger
brother at a hunting shop he owned.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
The shop sells guys and the squatters alleged
that it\'s a contact point for hiring gunmen.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
Given the shop\'s reputation,
this group of men were nervous

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
of being filmed outside of it.

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
And Guaqn,

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
the accused rancher right
away to avoid being filmed.

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
[sil.]

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
Meanwhile the police
investigation drags on.

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
We are forwarding our request to the judge,

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
requested preventive detention of
those involved, the brothers Branko,

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
Guaqn Branko and Irmanio Branko?

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
Why are they still free? They had liberty

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
because the case is in the police space;

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
it hasn\'t arrived in the files of the court.
Does the rancher have a safe conduct?

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
He has a habeas corpus,

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
which doesn\'t allow the police to
touch him until the case is in court.

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
[sil.]

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
Here it\'s written on the cross my brother,

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
Clesio, Sebestiao, and Joao
Ventiniha ask for justice.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
My brothers,

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
the question is in our minds and mouths,

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
what has been done to punish

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
Eminiho (inaudible) and his brother
Guaqn Jose who paid a group of gunmen

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
to fell our brothers to the ground,

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
what\'s been done? Nothing,

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
because when a poor man dies

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
no institution takes action.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
Our justice has only one name land reform.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
For the squatters, defeat here means they
will be pushed deeper into the rainforest

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
in their desperate search for land.

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:23.000
[sil.]

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
For their part, the rancher had been solidifying
their power. The cattlemen gather at (inaudible)

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
a rodeo.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
These cowboy festivals are organized
by the party of the ranchers,

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
the UDR to collect money
to oppose land reform.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
Since nearly half the horrible land is
owned by only 1% of the land owner,

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:58.000
there is plenty of reason
to contribute to the party.

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
The UDR\'s leader Ronaldo
Kaiadu (inaudible).

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
When the property of one of
our companions was invaded

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
by processional squatters,

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
the UDR did not accept it. They
are evil men these squatters,

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
the real producers are represented by us.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
[sil.]

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
The UDR of the state of the Rio
Grande do Supplement mobilized

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
400 men that day to go into that ranch.

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
They surrounded the invaders,
and saw the judge decision

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
was carried out, so the
justice was fulfilled

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
in Rio Grande do Supplement. That\'s how

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
we have to act, this is not the time
for each to look out for himself,

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
we must unite and make our group,
the ranchers a nest of hornets.

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
Next the rancher struck John Batista,

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
the man on the truck at the New Jacundá.
He had been repeatedly threatened

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
by the ranchers, so he had taken his
case to Belém, the state capital,

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
where he made a desperate plea before the
state assembly for police protection.

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
Batista was well-known for his work
defending squatters, and was not popular

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
with the UDR.

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
The next night

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
he was murdered as he drove
into his apartment block.

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
[sil.]

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
He was shot at close range in
the head and died instantly.

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
[sil.]

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
Then the state secretary

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
in charge of the police, who despite being asked
did not give Juan Batista police protection,

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
went to the morgue to make a
highly emotional statement

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:23.000
in front of the press
and television cameras.

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
But the relatives of the
murdered man reacted angrily.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:48.000
[non-English narration]

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
[non-English narration]

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
They are outraged, speared
across the country and abroad.

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
Amnesty International\'s report on Brazil\'s rural
assassinations states that for a 1000 murders,

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
only 3 gunmen have been convicted.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
Now of the ranchers who commissioned
the murders have ever been convicted.

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
Yet a spokesmen for the President of Brazil,
denied government connivance in the murders

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
and the Minister of Justice said
that it was a fantasy and untrue

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
that there had been a 100 assassinations.
This hunger for land

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
was probably Brazil\'s most explosive issue,
and it caused the vast migrations of people

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
into the Amazon Rainforest. Many
migrants came from Southern Brazil,

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
but the forest was originally cleared
by colonists for small 50 acre forms.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
But by the 1980s, most of them have been
driven out by huge agro businesses.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
The forests and small homesteads were
converted into vast soya been plantations

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
of up to 100,000 acres.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
And so, millions of landless rural,
poor headed into the Amazon rainforest

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
in search of a new life and land.

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
These migrants will go northwest
into the jungle State of Rondônia.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
[sil.]

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
We hope things will be better there.

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
Is life hard here? It\'s getting terrible.

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
40% of the smaller holders from my district

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
have left for Rondônia. Our
municipality is emptying;

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
the reason is the government
doesn\'t care for the smallholder.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
[music]

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
And so, the Amazon\'s
greatest migration began.

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
[music]

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
The colonists from the developed parts

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
of Brazil swarmed into Rondônia.
The migration starts from 20,000

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
to nearly 200,000 a year.

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
But their forms would fail in the
equatorial sun and sandy soil.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
The (inaudible) of town is
becoming huge rural slums.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
[sil.]

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
There unleashed a holocaust

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
in the virgin forests of Rondônia only to
fail and march deeper into the jungle.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:33.000
[sil.]

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
So pointless

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
was the devastation that by 1989,
land reform had become an issue

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
in Brazil\'s presidential election.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
[sil.]

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
The candidate of the right,

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
Fernando Collor was
supported by the ranchers.

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
Ronaldo Kaiadu

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
the rancher\'s U.D.R party leaders openly
campaigned for Collor and against land reform.

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
[music]

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
In the cities, crowds of hundreds,

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:30.000
of thousands packed the huge rallies of
the left which was promising land reform.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
Their candidate was Lula

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
a union leader, whose father
had been driven off the land.

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:53.000
[sil.]

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:15.000
[sil.]

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:33.000
[sil.]

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
Lula\'s press conferences were
like journalistic football.

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
Lula, tell us about your land reform?

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
It\'s not my land reform,
it\'s the popular France,

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
it\'s capable of improving
people\'s lives quickly.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:44:03.000
[sil.]

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
The only change of terminating violence

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
in the country side is first punish
those who carry out the violence,

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
second carry out land reform so greatly
needed by our people. Jose Gomez (inaudible)

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
was Lula\'s candidate for
Minister of Land Reform.

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
Just the election of Lula will establish a
new climate of justice in this country.

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
It will be

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
a general warning to Brazilian Society,

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
a warning to the gunmen, to land swindlers,

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
a warning to the police,

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
even for jury who will feel much
freer to convict the criminals.

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
[sil.]

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:05.000
But Fernando Collor raised
more general themes.

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
[sil.]

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
The election was closer than expected,

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
Collor won by only 5%.

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
Since his election though, Collor has surprised
many of his supporters by signing drastic reforms

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
of the economy, tax incentives
and the environment.

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
But so far, land reform
has not been attempted.

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
Today, the landless go on invading
unused land all over Brazil,

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
hundreds camping and living communally.

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
This group of squatters

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
are on the land of Ronaldo Kaiadu,
the leaders of the ranchers party.

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
The land was unused, and
to show their defiance,

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
the squatters invaded and or cultivating about
200 acres, defying the owners to expel them.

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
[sil.]

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
Meanwhile on the outskirts of Imperatriz,

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
we track down the rancher accused of brutally
murdering the squatter Sebestiao and his little son.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
He is now building a shooting club.

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:43.000
[non-English narration]

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
Guaqn is living proof of the Amnesty International
Charge that none of the ranchers accused

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
of commissioning a 1000 murders
has been brought to trial.

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
Thus it will be…

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
…a new time of eternal justice…

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
…without hate, bloodshed or avarice.

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
In the eyes of every man the
certainty of a brother…

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
…the kingdom of the people.

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
It will be so beautiful to hear the song.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
It will be beautiful to hear the song.

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
In the eyes of every man the
certainty of a brother…

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:40.000
the kingdom of the people.

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
Of all the problems of Brazil, violence
in the countryside is the one issue

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
which epitomizes the exploitation
of the poor by the powerful.

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
Despite this, Brazil\'s millions of
landless poor will probably go on

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
stubbornly risking death for any
patch of land, preferring to die

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
and to be driven off, like
thousands were before them,

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
deeper and deeper into the
jungles of the Amazon.

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:23.000
[music]

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
The Decade of Destruction by Adrian Cowell
is published by Henry Holt & Co

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:25.000
and is available in libraries
and book stores nationwide.