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DE RUEHSO #0248/01 1370918
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P 160918Z MAY 08
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RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 SAO PAULO 000248 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/BSC, DRL/ILCSR, INR/IAA, INR/R/AA 
STATE ALSO FOR DS/IP/WHA, DS/DSS/ITA, DS/DSS/OSAC 
STATE PASS USTR FOR KATE DUCKWORTH 
NSC FOR TOMASULO 
TREASURY FOR JHOEK 
USDOC FOR 4332/ITA/MAC/WH/OLAC 
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USCS/OIO/WH/RD 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
DOL FOR ILAB 
USAID FOR LAC/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ELAB PHUM PINS EINV PGOV SOCI ASEC BR
SUBJECT: MST "RED APRIL" SHOWS DECLINE IN ACTIVITY 
 
REF: 07 SAO PAULO 879 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST) is 
facing a significant change in its organization.  The number of its 
members is slowly decreasing, as is the number of land invasions it 
carries out.  Some observers cite President Lula's "Bolsa Familia" 
cash transfer program for the poor as a factor in the decline in MST 
activities.  In addition, the MST had hoped for greater political 
will from the Lula administration to conduct land redistribution. 
An apparent unwillingness on the part of Lula's government to do 
this may be wearing the MST down and leading it to seek 
accommodation rather than confrontation.  End Summary. 
 
---------- 
BACKGROUND 
---------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The MST is a national movement (formed around grass-roots 
principles) whose goal is to implement land reform in Brazil and 
ensure the broad distribution of land to the rural poor.  The 
movement advocates a model of economic development that gives pride 
of place to small family farms and opposes large holdings and 
agri-business.  Land ownership is disputed in many parts of Brazil 
due to fraudulent titles or other historical circumstances.  Even 
where ownership is undisputed, the government has the right to 
appropriate and distribute unproductive land or land which is being 
used to the detriment of the environment or the exploitation of the 
workers.  Accordingly, some MST elements and their allies have 
adopted an anti-globalization agenda and specialize in challenging 
the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Land invasions (or occupations, as MST members prefer to 
call them) are the MST's way of pressuring the government for land 
reform.  They are designed to raise public consciousness of the 
plight of the rural poor and the need for more equitable land 
distribution.  Many MST members live in temporary but long-term 
settlements ("acampamentos") established on or near disputed land. 
They live in plastic tents and are organized in collective 
communities.  Some settlements are five or even ten years old, and 
the settlers are waiting to be given a piece of land as part of the 
land reform.  When the invaded property belongs to the government, 
the process of land distribution is quicker than when it involves 
private property.  The federal and state governments are usually 
willing to negotiate an agreement to distribute the land, though 
such deals sometimes take years to conclude.  Private owners, on the 
other hand, usually seek a court order to require the invaders to 
leave. 
 
¶4. (SBU) While the MST is active year-round, the organization 
follows a calendar of events.  Its members carry out land invasions 
over the Christmas, New Year's and Carnival (February) holidays when 
government offices and courts are closed, meaning the owners can't 
get judicial orders to force their withdrawal until after the 
holidays, offering the invaders more of a media spotlight.  In 
recent years they have also taken to conducting land invasions on 
International Women's Day (March 8).  Every year they conduct "Red 
April" activities -- land invasions, occupations of government 
offices, blocking of highways -- throughout the month in observance 
of the April 1996 armed confrontation between MST and the police in 
Eldorado de Carajas, Para state, which left 19 MST militants dead. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Although most recent MST invasions have not involved 
violence, there have been exceptions.  Per reftel, last October some 
 
SAO PAULO 00000248  002 OF 004 
 
 
200 militants from MST and Via Campesina, an associated 
organization, invaded an agricultural research station in Santa 
Tereza do Oeste, Parana state, owned by the Swiss-based biotech 
company Syngenta.  A skirmish between the invaders and security 
guards killed two people and wounded eight.  MST claims Syngenta's 
use of the facility to experiment with varieties of genetically 
modified soybeans violates Brazilian law due to the proximity of 
Iguacu National Park, an environmentally protected area.  Syngenta 
maintains it possesses all permits and licenses required by federal 
law to conduct research at the facility on genetically modified corn 
and soybeans.  The situation is complicated by the fact that the 
Governor of Parana, Roberto Requiao, is a vocal opponent of GMOs who 
has sought to expropriate the company's land and declare the state 
GMO-free.  He is also one of a very few major Brazilian political 
figures to openly support MST and encourage its activities.  As a 
result, Syngenta and other multinationals cultivating GMOs cannot 
count on state police for protection.  Attacks on companies 
producing GMOs sometimes result in extensive property damage.  In 
March of this year, Via Campesina militants occupied a Monsanto 
biotech research station in Sao Paulo state and destroyed an 
experimental facility producing genetically modified corn.  One 
possible explanation for these incidents is that MST and its 
affiliates regard multinational companies as easier targets than 
large Brazilian landowners, perhaps considering them easier to 
intimidate due to concerns over their corporate image.  The fact 
that GMOs remain controversial in the public mind in Brazil also 
offers MST an opportunity for propaganda victories by taking on 
their producers. 
 
--------------- 
SAO PAULO STATE 
--------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In Sao Paulo state, one focus of MST activity is the 
Pontal do Paranapanema in the southwestern part of the state, where 
there remains a long-standing dispute over land titles.  During the 
first two weeks of February, landless people occupied 16 farms in 
the Pontal, and continued this activity sporadically through March 
and April.  A bill under consideration in the Sao Paulo State 
Legislative Assembly (ALESP) would legalize large existing holdings, 
but would require owners to turn a portion of them over to the state 
to be redistributed.  Many owners favor the bill, provided that the 
portion to be ceded is small (perhaps 5 percent).  The landless and 
their advocates in the Pontal are almost unanimously opposed to this 
approach on the grounds that the bill would legalize land fraud. 
 
¶7. (SBU) In the north and northeast of Sao Paulo state, which 
produces large amounts of sugar cane, oranges, and coffee, land 
titles are clear and the land is undeniably being put to productive 
use, the MST accuses the farmers of damaging the environment or 
exploiting the rural workers.  Such allegations raise complex legal 
questions and often result in nearly intractable negotiations.  In 
some instances, the state buys the land and distributes it. 
 
-------------------- 
MST MILITANT PROFILE 
-------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Carlos Alberto Feliciano, Ombudsman for the Sao Paulo 
State Land Institute (ITESP) Foundation, offered a general profile 
of the MST militant.  Most landless people are rural workers who 
left their jobs on large plantations due to mechanization.  Some are 
also rural families that lost (or sold) their small farms to large 
landowners or private companies.  In addition, during periods of 
economic slowdown in the 1980s and 90s, some urban workers with low 
 
SAO PAULO 00000248  003 OF 004 
 
 
levels of education and few opportunities joined the MST in the 
hopes of receiving a small plot of land that might enable them to 
support their families.  Brazil was a largely rural country until 
relatively recently, and many Brazilians dream of returning to the 
land.  As the MST promises land, it has been seen as an attractive 
alternative.  Some members took temporary jobs in the cities while 
at the same time taking part in settlement activities.  These are 
the people who usually participate in land invasions. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Feliciano noted that in recent years, the MST has had 
difficulty recruiting new members because recent economic growth has 
generated new jobs in the cities.  An additional factor is the Lula 
administration's "Bolsa Familia" cash transfer program for the poor, 
which now benefits more than 11 million families.  Many Bolsa 
Familia recipients are reluctant to join MST for fear of losing 
their benefits.  It is difficult for them to comply with the 
program's conditions - keeping their children in school and ensuring 
they are vaccinated on schedule - when living in an MST 
"acampamento."  Feliciano indicated that Bolsa Familia is but one 
among a series of reasons that the MST settlements are emptying. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The change in the MST members' profile also explains the 
changes in the movement's political maneuvers.  (Note:  According to 
the most recent MST figures, there were 103 land invasions in 
observance of "Red April" in 2007, but only 46 in April 2008.  End 
Note.)  Instead of land occupations, the MST is now promoting quick 
actions designed for high media attention and impact.  This past 
month, for instance, landless groups blocked highways and invaded 
public buildings and banking agencies, in addition to organizing 
demonstrations against the mining company Vale (the former Companhia 
Vale do Rio Doce - CVRD) and multi-nationals that produce GMOs. 
Most of these political actions were carried out near large cities, 
required fewer participants, and were less risky than a traditional 
invasion of a rural area.  The actions against Vale, besides 
generating publicity, are also designed to satisfy MST's political 
constituency.  MST leaders accuse the company of labor exploitation 
and environmental degradation, and many on the left have called for 
the reversal of its privatization. 
 
------------------ 
GOVERNMENT EFFORTS 
------------------ 
 
¶11.  (SBU) According to Ariovaldo Umbelino de Oliveira, a professor 
of geography at the University of Sco Paulo and a land reform expert 
who was part of the team that prepared the Lula administration's 
first land reform plan in 2003, social movements such as MST will 
continue to exist so long as Brazil's land problems remain unsolved. 
 Oliveira noted that Brazil has 850 million hectares of land, but 
only half of it is registered by Incra (National Institute for Land 
Reform and Colonization), the federal agency that deals with land 
issues.  Of the land that is registered, there are some 200 million 
hectares with insufficient documentation to prove ownership.  By law 
this land belongs to the state and could be available for 
redistribution. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) In Oliveira's view, 40 million hectares would be 
sufficient to settle one million families.  However, a great deal of 
political will is required to overcome all the legal and 
institutional obstacles.  Oliveira asserts that the Lula 
administration lacks this political will, in part because it 
believes agri-business and large holdings offer a better economic 
model for rural development.  While Lula's plan was to resettle 
400,000 families over four years, and the Ministry of Agrarian 
Development claims to have settled 381,000 families between 2003 and 
 
SAO PAULO 00000248  004 OF 004 
 
 
2006 (figures for 2007 are not yet available), Oliveira claims the 
real figure is 135,000 families settled through 2006.  Citing 
endemic corruption in INCRA, he described a variety of ways INCRA 
categorizes land in order to pad the figures.  The slow pace of land 
reform under Lula has been a disappointment to MST leaders as well 
as members of Lula's own Workers' Party (PT), of which MST is an 
autonomous social movement.  "If the movement can't get land to 
distribute amongst its followers, it loses strength", he explained. 
"Many people just gave up and went back to the cities."  Like 
Feliciano, Oliveira also cited Bolsa Familia as a factor in the 
MST's decline and said the group is changing tactics.  Instead of 
land invasions and confrontations, the movement is turning its 
efforts to improving living conditions in existing settlements, 
often using government funds distributed through NGOs. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Although the MST may be in decline, it is unlikely to 
fade away any time soon.  Its activities remain a source of concern 
to many landowners.  However, the growing economy combined with 
policies designed to improve living conditions for the poor -- a 
rising minimum wage and "Bolsa Familia" cash transfer payments -- 
appear to offer at least some erstwhile militants an alternative, 
and may be forcing the movement's leaders to rethink their tactics. 
End Comment. 
 
¶14.  (U) This cable was coordinated with and cleared by Embassy 
Brasilia. 
 
WHITE