BRAZIL:
Swiss Firm Denies
Responsibility in
Killing of Rural
Activist
By Fabiana Frayssinet
RIO DE JANEIRO, (IPS) -
An attack by armed
guards on a group of
rural activists
occupying a Swiss-owned
research farm in Brazil
was the latest incident
in what pro-land reform
movements call the
struggle against large
landed estates wedded
with multinational
agribusiness.
The incident occurred on
Oct. 21, after 200
members of the Landless
Rural Workers’ Movement
(MST) and the
international Via
Campesina movement
occupied for the second
time a farm where
research was being
carried out on
genetically modified
(GM) crops.
The farm, located in the
southern Brazilian state
of Paraná, is owned by
Syngenta Seeds, the
world's leading producer
of agrochemicals.
"It was raining heavily
and 10 workers took
refuge from the rain in
a little guard post near
the entrance to the
farm," Roberto Baggio,
one of the national
leaders of the MST and
Via Campesina, told IPS.
At around 13:00 local
time, some 40 men
"carrying heavy calibre
weapons launched a
surprise attack in broad
daylight, opening fire
on the guard post," he
said.
The men "steadily
trained machine gun fire
in the direction of the
guard post, in a clear
attempt to kill Vía
Campesina and MST
leaders," said Baggio.
One activist, Valmir
Mota de Oliveira, known
as "Keno", was killed.
According to the MST,
the attack was also
specifically aimed at
two other leaders who
had received death
threats.
One of the armed
security guards who
opened fire also died in
the incident, and eight
protesters and security
guards were injured,
including one woman who
remains in coma.
The occupation by the
activists was aimed at
drawing attention to
illegal experiments in
GM crops and the spread
of transgenic corn and
soybeans, according to a
complaint filed with the
governmental Brazilian
Environment Institute (IBAMA).
The 128-hectare GM
experimental farm is
located just four
kilometres from the
Iguaçú National Park,
which borders Argentina
and Paraguay. The park
was established in 1939
and in 1986 was declared
a Natural World Heritage
Site by the United
Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO).
The MST is protesting
that the research
facility is breaking a
law which states that GM
field trials cannot be
carried out within a
10-km buffer zone around
nature reserves.
"These multinational
corporations pose a
threat to the food
sovereignty of nation,"
said Baggio. "When they
introduce transgenic
seeds, they contaminate
the environment, food
production and
agriculture" with
technology that "fuels
the rural exodus."
These policies are
hurting agriculture, the
MST activist argued. In
the state of Paraná
alone, there are 300,000
families of small
farmers, and some 40,000
medium and large
farmers, "who have
adopted this technology
brought in by the big
multinationals, with
their poisonous seeds
and products" which
"harm the majority of
small food producers,"
he said.
The occupation of the
Syngenta research farm
was part of the
"struggle to preserve
food sovereignty" and
fight "the marriage
between national
agribusiness and
multinational capital,"
he maintained.
"How can a multinational
company operate in the
buffer zone of protected
areas and break
environmental statutes
and laws without any
action being taken?"
complained Baggio.
But what drew the
attention of the
London-based rights
group Amnesty
International, which
asked the government to
clarify the incident,
and of experts on
agrarian questions like
Bernardo Mançano
Fernandes, was the
degree of violence.
"Multinational
corporations do not
often resort to this
kind of violence," said
Fernandes, a professor
of geography at the São
Paulo State University,
in an interview
published on the MST web
site.
These companies
generally "seek
political-legislative
measures to influence
production policies and
maintain control over
the territories where
they operate -- measures
that in themselves
involve violence because
they affect thousands of
people. And in the
region of Cascabel
(where the Syngenta farm
is located), the
backward and modern
techniques came together
until they finally used
physical violence," said
the professor.
In response to a query
by IPS, Syngenta’s
public relations firm,
Publicom, sent a
document that stated
that 73 of the 128
hectares on the research
farm in Paraná are
dedicated to
agricultural purposes
and the rest to
conservation and
reforestation.
In 1996, Syngenta
obtained a biosafety
certificate (CBQ 001/96)
allowing it to carry out
research on genetic
improvement in corn and
soybean crops, it said.
In 1998, it initiated a
genetic improvement
programme with the aim
of developing high-yield
soybeans adapted to
southern Brazil "due to
the preference of
producers in southern
Brazil for glyphosate-tolerant
soybeans," says the
document.
Furthermore, it states
that before the MST
staged its first
occupation of the farm
in March 2006, IBAMA had
fined the company for
what it called illegal
cultivation of
genetically modified
soybeans and corn in the
Iguaçú National Park
buffer zone, which was
interpreted as being 10
kilometres wide.
The activists remained
on the farm until July
2007, when a high court
ruled that they had to
leave.
The court in Paraná also
waived the fine and
issued a
counter-measure,
maintaining that
Syngenta had been duly
authorised to carry out
its activities within
the research station by
the national technical
commission on biosafety.
The company said it
possessed valid,
appropriate documents
required by federal law.
With regard to the
events of Oct. 21,
Publicom forwarded to
IPS a communiqué dated
Oct. 24 on the incident
in the Syngenta research
station, which states
that the company had
filed a complaint about
the occupation of the
farm at the local police
station.
Syngenta added that the
security firm that was
hired to guard the
research station was
instructed to remove its
guards from the area and
not to oppose the
entrance of the MST
activists as they
returned to occupy the
field.
The corporation also
vehemently denied any
allegation that it
instructed the
outsourced security firm
to regain control of the
research station or use
armed force.
Syngenta said a clause
in its contract with the
security firm
established that the
guards were to be
unarmed.
Via Campesina, a global
movement that brings
together organisations
of small and medium
sized farmers,
agricultural workers and
rural women; the MST,
whose main objective is
to press for faster,
more effective land
reform; trade unions;
and human rights groups
in Brazil are demanding
that Syngenta pull out
of the country. |
