Killings reported rising in Brazil's countryside

[Judi Lynn]

04 Dec 2003 02:50:44 GMT
Killings reported rising in Brazil's countryside


RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Killings of Indians and peasants linked to land rights movements in Brazil are on the rise despite hopes that the center-left government would improve the situation, a human rights group said on Wednesday.

The Social Network for Human Rights and Justice cited figures from the Pastoral Land Commission, saying 61 peasants had been killed in the first 11 months of this year, up from 43 last year and 29 in 2001.

The group also said the Indigenous Missionary Council, which is linked to the Roman Catholic church, had reported a 10-year high of 22 killings of Indians in the first 10 months of the year, after just seven slayings last year.

A statement by the group did not specify who might have carried out the killings or why, but landowners have longed been suspected of violence and intimidation against landless peasants in the countryside. (snip/...)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N03314389.htm

[el_gato]

1. most of those "landowners"

obtained that massive land holdings through unsavory means from the get go