- This week, Brazil’s internationally recognized Landless Workers Movement (MST) launched a coordinated protest against corruption, with thousands of its members occupying six farms affiliated with government officials and Brazil’s wealthy elite.
- Farms were occupied by hundreds of protesting landless families in the states of Mato Grosso, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná and Minas Gerais.
- One occupation occurred on a soy farm owned by the Amaggi Group and affiliated with Brazilian agriculture minister Blairo Maggi. Another occurred on the farm of João Baptista Lima Filho, a close friend of President Temer. Both Lima Filho and Temer are under investigation for alleged corruption.
- At present, neither federal nor state authorities have made any known moves to end the occupations.
Brazil: MST occupy farms of elite land-owners
More than 2,000 rural families occupied six farms belonging to some of the nation’s top politicians and the wealthy elite on July 25-26.
This article was originally published by Mongabay on 28 July 2017.