Land Dispute Leads to Police Threats in Bahia, Brazil

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Issue Jul 01-31 2023: Quilombola residents of the Riacho Santo Antônio-Jitaí community in the Brazilian state of Bahia have faced over a decade of constant police harassment, as businessmen and state politicians attempt to acquire developable land attractive to real estate investment. The visceral and extralegal nature of this long standing dispute was captured on camera by quilombola residents, who filmed plainclothes, badge-less civil police engaging in various acts of destruction of property and repossession of land, finally threatening residents with a machete and pickaxe when confronted, reported André Uzêda in The Intercept Brazil.

These actions have been carried out in the name of businessman Paulo Roberto de Souza, who claims longstanding ownership of the Riacho das Flores, Rosarinho, and Bosque do Araken farms. Souza has filed multiple lawsuits against quilombola residents of these lands. Domingos de Oliveria, one of the quilombolas that Souza sued, asserted that he inherited the land from his grandparents, who occupied the area in 1916. When asked by quilombola residents why the police were defending Souza, one officer replied, “If you hire me, I’ll defend you too.”

Similar land disputes have occurred in other quilombola communities. João Gualberto, mayor of Mata de São João, has been accused by the quilombola as being behind efforts to transform the environmental reserve of Praia do Forte, an area claimed by traditional communities, into a “Conservation Unit,” which would prevent inhabitants from fishing, hunting, or engaging in animal husbandry. “They talk about it like it’s an environmental thing, but it’s not,” said Maria Jurema, president of the Associação Quilombo Tatuapara, which represents various quilombola communities. “They want to establish the reservation as an attraction for condominium and hotel owners, at the same time that they prevent us from using the space, which has always been ours.”