Brazil: Smallholder families successfully defend land against agribusiness giant
Smallholder families receive legal support from CPT Maranhão in partnership with Rainforest Rescue (© CPT Maranhao)
May 30, 2024
With legal assistance from Rainforest Rescue, some 200 smallholder families from Maranhão challenged and prevailed against the violence of Maratá, a Brazilian cattle and agribusiness giant that had grabbed the land the families had lived on for more than a century. The judge recognized the families’ right to the land.
Around 200 smallholder families from the Santa Maria and Jaqueira territories, in rural Timbiras, Maranhão, won a major legal victory in February this year against Maratá, a big player in Brazil's cattle and agribusiness sector. Maratá claimed ownership of the land on which the families have lived for over a century – a brazen move by a company that is less than 60 years old.
After reviewing the evidence and the families’ testimony, the judge in the case ruled that the farmers were legally entitled to the land on which their ancestors lived. The court ordered Maratá to withdraw from the land and stop harassing the families.
Maratá has a history of violence: On at least two occasions, the company has evicted families at gunpoint, destroyed their crops, and set fire to their homes. During the most recent eviction in August 2019, thugs shot and killed one of the farmers’ dogs. An elderly man, shaken by the violence, suffered a heart attack and died days later. An elderly woman, who witnessed her babassu coconut crop being torched, suffered a stroke that affected her memory and left her face partially paralyzed.
The families filed a lawsuit against the company in January 2020, demanding the right to remain on their land. In April of that year, they reclaimed the land from which they had been evicted, rebuilt their homes, and began reforestation and planting. Today, they are reaping the fruits of their struggle, starting with the production of fruits, vegetables and flour.
According to a representative of the Pastoral Land Commission of Maranhão (CPT-MA), which provides legal assistance and political education to the families, the partnership with Rainforest Rescue was essential to the smallholders’ initiative.
In this particular case, we provided legal assistance to the families. More recently, we supported CPT’s political education and geo-referenced mapping activities with the smallholder families of Timbiras, giving them the information and tools they need to continue the fight for their rights.
