Left-wing candidate gaining support

By Dara MacNeil

It would appear that sections of Brazil's impoverished majority have begun to take matters into their own hands. Tired of official indifference and the inability of this very wealthy country to feed its own, people in the northeast of the country have been carrying out their own form of wealth re-distribution.

In the town of Araripina, in the state of Pernambuco, the office of the Superintendent of Development was recently sacked and 3,700 crates of food `confiscated' by the hungry populace.

Since early May, Brazilian authorities have confirmed that in excess of 43 similar incidents have occurred, with hungry crowds directing their attention towards supermarkets and trucks carrying cargoes of food.

These acts of expropriation have not been confined to one region, and there are reports of crowds relieving supermarkets, and other such outlets, of their produce in at least six Brazilian states: Ceará, Pernambuco, Pariba, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe and Piaui.

The Brazilian authorities have denied that it is hunger and want which has compelled people to take the law into their own hands. Rather they have chosen to add insult to obvious injury by characterising the crowds as simple ``delinquents.''

They have also said they will be arresting leaders of the radical Movimiento de los Sin Tierra (Movement of the Landless, MST), claiming the organisation is behind the attacks on supermarkets and official foodstores.The government has said it will use the army, if necessary, to prevent the hungry feeding themselves.

Nonetheless, while the government has stated its determination to use armed force to obstruct this ambitious, ad hoc programme of wealth re-distribution, it is clear many among Brazil's poor want no more than what has long been promised them, by such august bodies as the United Nations. Article 25 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights - 1998 marks the 50th anniversary of that document - deals with the right to food, and decent medical care for all.

Perhaps the UN could dispatch an `intervention' force to ensure Brazil's many ``delinquents'' are allowed to go about their business without interference from the armed forces of the state.

Meanwhile, the MST has announced its support for the candidacy of Luiz Inácio da Silva - popularly known as Lula - in Brazil's presidential elections, scheduled to be held in September.

Lula is the candidate of the broad-based, left wing Workers' Party (PT) - absolutely no relation of the Irish variety.

With four months to go to polling day, Lula has made enormous gains at the expense of the other main candidate, Fernando Henrique Cardoso. As the current president, Cardoso is seeking a second term of office.

In recent days a series of opinion polls have shown both candidates to be neck and neck. It was initially expected that Cardoso would win easily.

While Cardoso's popularity has suffered, Lula is gaining widespread support from left and radical groups, along with many grassroots organisations. The endorsement of the MST appears to confirm that Brazil's dispossessed have thrown in their lot with the charismatic PT leader.

The endorsement of the MST was doubtless aided by the fact that Lula has pledged himself to the cause of agrarian reform. Indeed, such is the grossly inequitable nature of land distribution in Brazil that many among the wealthy elite have expressed fears it could well retard Brazil's drive for economic `modernisation.'

A recent study revealed that while Brazil possesses twice the agricultural land of near neighbour Argentina, the country still produces less. This disparity is blamed on the fact that huge swathes of Brazil's productive land are held by large landowners. These estates are notoriously unproductive and largely given over to cattle, at the expense of people.

The MST, in its campaign to overturn the country's system of land distribution, organises occupations of such estates, by families of landless people.

Colombian death squads acting with impunity

On 16 May last, right-wing paramilitaries murdered 11 civilians in northern Colombia. Not content with that slaughter, the killers abducted a further 25 people. In early June, the charred corpses of all 25 were found near the town of Barrancabermeja, north of the capital Bogota.

This was just the latest in a series of grim atrocities committed by the right-wing death squads, many of which took place in northern Colombia.

Indeed, it was hardly a coincidence that the 25 corpses turned up close to Barrancabermeja - the town functions as an outlet for the export and transport of oil produced in the surrounding area. In the past, Colombia's oil-producing regions have borne the brunt of the activities of the death squads. Frequently, the latter have targeted those viewed as opposing the large-scale drilling operations: indigenous residents who have protested at the seizure of their land to facilitate the operations of large multinational oil companies, or union activists attempting to organise the oil-producing workforce. Companies such as BP have invested heavily in Colombia.

In response to the latest atrocity, residents of Barrancabermeja - under the banner of the Workers' Union - paralysed the town and its oil-producing facilities.

Although frequently identified by eyewitness testimony, the right-wing killers are rarely caught. Hardly surprising given that those charged with catching and arresting the perpetrators are usually the army - in whose ranks many of the killers are to be found. The intellectual authors tend to be higher up the chain of command.

These have been a busy few weeks for the death squads. Recently, the assassins paid a visit to the rural area of Murindo, again in the north of the country. Thirty civilians were murdered and houses destroyed. The army claimed the deaths had resulted from a gunbattle between the death squads and guerrillas.

However, as is so often the case, eyewitness testimony confirmed the victims had been unarmed and were given no opportunity to defend themselves. The death squads have also successfully terrorised the remaining civilian population in the area: it is believed hundreds have fled or gone into hiding since the mass murder.

In April, the gunmen claimed the lives of 17 people in Antioquia. In May, a further 17 were murdered in the Meta region. The dead were accused of aiding Colombia's left-wing insurgency. The claim, true or otherwise, is frequently made by the death squads in an attempt to provide retrospective legitimisation of their terrorist activities. Towards the end of May, the killers struck again, this time murdering 23 civilians in the Santander area.

One wonders at the reaction of the international community - not least the self-proclaimed champions of human rights in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere - had this appalling catalogue of murder been committed by supposed left-wing insurgents. At the very least, news bulletins would treat us to the gruesome details surrounding each and every death, while threats of military intervention would be loud and frequent.

As it is, the victims must be content with the anonymity that is routinely accorded those murdered at the behest of the state and powerful business interests.

And as for talk of military intervention? Recent Colombian press reports claim the US is indeed about to intervene - on behalf of the army, and their allies in the murderous death squads....