MST families violently evicted after 60 hours of resistance

The families were evicted from Quilombo Campo Grande camp where they have lived and produced food for the past two decades

August 15, 2020 by Peoples Dispatch

Military Police in Minas Gerais violently evicted families who live at the Quilombo Campo Grande camp. The families had resisted the eviction order for 60 hours, but on Friday August 14 the police resorted to violent tactics such as launching tear gas and sound grenades. The 450 families who live at Quilombo Campo Grande had been living for the past 22 years in the area where sugar mill Ariadnópolis once functioned. The mill went bankrupt and closed down activities in 1996. Since then, the landless families organized in the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement revitalized the land, and produced organic coffee, corn, beans and other food crops.

During the eviction process, the camp’s educational center Eduardo Galeano Popular School, where children, youth and adults study, was also destroyed.

The MST and the families of Quilombo Campo Grande have vowed to continue their struggle to produce healthy food for the Brazilian people and in defense of their right to land.