Governor Alckmin stains his hands with the blood of Pinheirinho’s residents

PSTU’s Statement.

Actions of solidarity must be strengthened and protests across the country must be carried out. The PSDB[1] government must pay for their crime! We demand that the federal government expropriate the land.

The massacre that took place at Pinheirinho on Sunday, January 22, is the sole responsibility of the governor Geraldo Alckmin. The entire criminal decision was made directly by the PSDB’s governor. The action was clearly a legal nonsense, because it went over the Federal Court command which, last Friday, ordered to suspend the eviction. Yet, PSDB government threw the riot police to brutally evict the working poor inhabitants of Pinheirinho.

São José dos Campos municipality and the State government took advantage of the respite given by the federal court and attacked Pinheirinho by surprise on a Sunday morning. The invasion occurred around 6 am, with helicopters, tanks, guns, gas and pepper pumps and, at least 2,000 policemen from 33 municipalities.

For the mayor of São José dos Campos, Mr. Cury, poor people cannot live at Pinheirinho because the settlement, which started more than eight years ago, is close to privileged neighborhoods. The PSDB hates poor people and protects the rich ones!

The PSDB’s mayor, the Alckmin’s government and the Police Force (PM) want to avoid any disclosure on the number of victimized people in the eviction. They want to give the impression that the reintegration was a “quiet” one. However, what happened was a massacre in Pinheirinho supported by a massive security apparatus, which stepped over everything, even a federal court order.

During the incident, many residents showed their wounds caused by shots of rubber bullet. There are many reports of police violence against the elderly, women and even disabled. Police repressed the inhabitants indiscriminately. Many mothers complained that they were prevented by police from picking up their children within the settlement. “We are here to see the stuff going mad,” said a soldier to the appeals of a mother.

Inside the tents set up by the local government to shelter the residents, the Civil Guard repressed the residents with tear gas and rubber bullets; most of the residents who were on the site were women and children.

The police action reminded the typical PSDB governmental policy that, when faced with serious social problems, throw their riot troops to massacre the poor and working people. It was so during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s national government (1994-2002), on the occasion of the massacre of landless people in Eldorado dos Carajás (PA), when 19 rural workers were killed. So it was in the Corumbiara massacre, when 12 peasants were murdered.

The old and shabby PSDB’s policy is repeated at Pinheirinho and now the blood runs down from Geraldo Alckmin’s hands. Mayor Eduardo Cury, also of the PSDB, is responsible for his criminal negligence since the beginning and also for his refusal to negotiate with the federal government. Judge Marcia Faria Loureiro is also responsible because she was the one who directly passed the sentence of repossession and maintained a cruel intransigence.

Right now, it is essential that the federal government of President Dilma Rousseff manifests and intervenes in the conflict. We demand that the federal government expropriate the land of the criminal Naji Nahas[2] so that the Pinheirinho’s poor families can continue living in their homes. The land should belong to the workers rather than to a criminal convicted of corruption and money laundering!

We also appeal towards solidarity for the Pinheirinho’s residents, who need all the support of everyone, whether activists, celebrities, politicians or artists. Therefore, we appeal to the workers’ organizations to call upon acts and street protests in every city in the country, in order to denounce Alckmin’s massacre. Let us occupy the squares and hold protests against the criminal actions of the PSDB.

We need to intensify the solidarity actions throughout the country. The PSDB government must pay for their crime!

Source: www.pstu.org.br, Jan. 22, 2012.

[1] PSDB – Brazilian Social Democratic Party, a right wing party that rules São Paulo state.

[2] Naji Nahas – the alleged land’s owner, a financial speculator who has already been sentenced to prison by fraud.

related articles:

 ‘Pinheirinho’, the largest urban settlement in Latin America, has been severely repressed

Pinheirinho community is being invaded right now by the police 

Urgent Campaign: Pinheirinho’s residents face threat of forced eviction