Military police officers from Rondônia killed, on Thursday (20), in Machadinho do Oeste (RO), two people who participated, together with hundreds of families, in the occupation of four farms belonging to the Nelore Di Genio group. The properties are part of the estate of businessman João Carlos Di Genio, founder of the educational group Unip/Objetivo.
According to the Rondônia Military Police (PM), brothers Alex Santos Santana and Alessandro Santos Santana were shot when they exchanged fire with agents from the Shock Battalion who were patrolling an already unoccupied area. Sources linked to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) heard by Agência Brasil refute the police version, accusing the PM of persecuting the landless, even after the group had started to leave the farms, as per court orders.
According to the PM, police officers were patrolling the region to inhibit new occupation of the area that the landless claim should be destined for agrarian reform. That’s when they saw a vehicle traveling at high speed along Highway RO-133. On board the car were the Santana brothers.
The police officers guarantee that they signaled the driver to stop, but he ignored the warning, trying to escape the approach. Yet according to the PM, when being chased, the occupants of the car, a Renault Clio, shot at the agents, who reacted.
“The vehicle continued to flee until it was surrounded by other vehicles,” the police said. “But, when trying to hide in a wooded area, the car got stuck [atolou] in soft sand. Two armed individuals disembarked and fired again at the garrisons, constituting a second act of armed aggression,” added the Military Police.
Hit by police shots, the Santana brothers were found lying in a thicket. One of them was shot in the chest – the PM did not say whether Alex or Alessandro. The other had a serious gunshot wound to one of his legs. Taken to Machadinho Municipal Hospital, the two succumbed to their injuries.
The police claim to have seized two firearms and ammunition used by the Santana brothers. But the PM admits that, although called, the Criminal Forensics were unable to attend the scene even after the bodies had been removed, “due to the distance and the history of conflicts in the region”. The car Alex and Alessandro were in was collected.
CPT’s agrarian advisor, Josep Iborra, known as Zezinho, states that compliance with the court decision to repossess from the Maruins, Santa Maria, São Miguel and São Vicente farms, from the Di Gênio group, produced a true “human hunt” against the landlesswho had to leave all their belongings behind.
“The 440 families have already vacated the farms, peacefully, but many of them remain in the vicinity, dispersed, hidden in the bush, with nowhere to go”, said Zezinho, denying that the landless people have remained in the region with the intention of returning to occupy the area as soon as the PM leaves the region.
According to Zezinho, the eviction of the Grupo Di Gênio farms, which the landless claim is illegal public land, began a few weeks ago and was carried out without prior notification to the landless. According to him, there was also no presentation of an Eviction Plan, as determined by the National Council of Justice (CNJ) in cases of collective possession actions and with the use of dozens of police vehicles, helicopters and even an armored car.
This despite the fact that, according to Brazil Agency found, the repossession determinations were issued between May 30th and October 3rd, in four different processes, by two judges of the Court of Justice of Rondônia (TJRO): Matheus Brito Nunes Diniz and Pauliane Mezabarba.
Also according to Zezinho, the brothers Alex and Alessandro were part of the group of landless people who left Fazenda Santa Maria. AND were killed in circumstances that need to be clarified.
“According to the landless people, there was no exchange of gunfire. The bodies were taken to the hospital, and the scene of the deaths was not preserved for forensic examination”, highlighted the advisor from the CPT, a body linked to the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB). According to Zezinho, the CPT contacted bodies such as the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming, the National Agrarian Ombudsman’s Office and the state and federal Public Ministries, to monitor the situation and find a solution to the conflict.
When consulted about the criticism, the PM of Rondônia maintained that it had a legal duty to guarantee the protection of court officials responsible for complying with the judicial decision to repossess. And he reaffirmed that the Santana brothers were killed because they reacted violently to the police approach.
“The conduct of those involved, by disobeying legal orders and shooting at public agents, represented a serious risk to the community and public order, justifying the intervention of the garrison”, added the PM, guaranteeing that the Shock Battalion will continue in the region, “aiming to re-establish order and social peace during Operation Reintegration of Possession Grupo Di Gênio”.
THE Brazil Agency, lawyers representing the Di Gênio Group reported that successive invasions of Machadinho do Oeste farms have been taking place since at least last year. Motivating them to go to state court with civil and criminal actions in order not only to obtain the reintegration of the entire area, which they claim to be productive, but also to register and demand measures against the damages attributed to the landless.
According to the lawyers, by occupying the farms acquired by Di Genio in the 1970s and used for breeding and fattening cattle, the landless would be deforesting the native vegetation; extracting wood illegally – including using tractors, trucks and chainsaws –; building shacks and subdividing the property with the clear intention of later reselling them.
THE Brazil Agency contacted the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming; with the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra) and the Public Ministry of Rondônia and awaits their statements.
