Gunpoint Land Grab
- 20 May 08, 12:23 PM
Posted from: Altamira
We are filming in an area called The Middle Land in the Brazilian state of Para, a lawless frontier zone where the battle for the Amazon is at its most intense. Land-grabbing is rife here: false documents, intimidation and violence are the methods used by the land-grabbers, who force communities off their land at gunpoint and lay claim to their territory. The winners in this conflict are some of the wealthiest landowners in the world, pulling shadowy strings behind the gangs of 'pistolieros'. The losers are the forgotten poor, thrown off their land, ending up in slums on the outskirts of towns and cities.
We've just spent some time with a lovely family living in a tiny wooden shack on stilts above a swampy marshland on the edge of Altamira. They're 'ribierinhos' or river people, and told us the most harrowing story: having lived for generations on the edge of the forest on the Xingu River, their lives were turned upside down one afternoon when a gang of armed land-grabbers arrived. They were threatened and ordered to leave immediately, and watched as their house went up in flames. They ended up here, perched on the edge of Altamira, with various other families who have suffered the same fate.
Herculano is unemployed, and is struggling to support Gianna, his wife, and their three children. He's a forest person, and has proud tears in his eyes when he talks about his days of hunting, fishing and farming for food. He can't stop himself from going back to his land despite the danger: the last time he returned to his homeland, he was caught and held at gunpoint for 24 hours.
Living in the slum on stilts is a precarious existence on many levels. The walkways are thin planks strung from shack to shack, bending in the middle as you walk over them. The children play running games along the planks and several have drowned in the dark sea of raw sewage below.
Herculano is not going to give up, despite the risks involved. He's being helped by a local activist and the town's public prosecutor to reclaim his land, and try to make it a community reserve. The man who officially laid claim to Herculano's land was one of the richest people in the world, owning several million hectares of land in the Amazon. His land title documents for Herculano's home were declared false in court and he was ordered off the land, but as soon as his people left, another group of land-grabbers turned up and now Herculano has two armed gangs looking for him.
We've spent a couple of days here in this suburb on stilts, and had a very warm welcome from the community. Of all the places we've filmed in the lawless state of Para, this community feels the safest - I haven't felt worried about security for us or our equipment, and we've been chatting happily with the neighbours and playing with the kids.
Life here could soon change dramatically for everyone. Plans are in the pipeline for a giant dam that will flood the whole area and thousands of people will be displaced, including Herculano's and all the other families living on the edge of town. They don't know where they will go next.
The bureaucratic machine rumbles on very slowly, but apparently Herculano's case for a community reserve has now been sanctioned by the Ministry of Environment, and is awaiting presidential approval. With so many powerful interests at play, the process is easily delayed, and Herculano knows from experience not to get his hopes up too soon. Meanwhile the shadow of the dam looms large over the community. Herculano says what keeps him going is a dream of the day he and his family are allowed to return to their forest home and the life they had before.
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