Court Suspends Eviction of Landless Workers Movement Encampment

The Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJSP) suspended for 90 days the order of repossession of the area including the Marielle Vive! encampment organized by Grassroots International’s Brazilian partner the Landless Workers Movement (MST), in Valinhos (SP), in the region of Campinas. The court ruling guarantees that as long as the case is under consideration, the 700 families will not be evicted.

Check the state’s note about the decision:

Today, on August 29th, the Judge of the TJ [Justice Tibunal] of SP granted the suspension of the repossession action filed by the Eldorado Empreendimentos Imobiliaria Farm, where the families of the Marielle Vive! encampment live in the municipality of Valinhos (SP).

On August 12, the judge of first instance, Bianca Vasconcelos, ordered the eviction of families who have lived in the area since April 14, 2018. As a matter of urgency, the judge established 15 working days for voluntary departure after publication of the decision. The term would end on September 9, 2019.

The judge’s decision stipulates the suspension of reinstatement for a period of 90 days, while examining the appeals of the Public Defender’s Office of the State of São Paulo (DPE) and the MST lawyers that require the suspensive effect.

The appeal filed by the DPE requests the nullity of the judge’s judgment because it considered, according to the order of the Court, «that there was no ‘precise delimitation’ of the area; that» the documentary evidence collected by the applicant in the present case is absolutely insufficient to demonstrate the previous exercise of possession of the property in dispute; that the defendants conferred social function on the property in question; that the formal owner, now appealed, has not exercised ownership of the property since the its acquisition; that the land was in a situation of abandonment at the time; and that currently there are several families residing there, who are in a ‘vulnerable situation,’ with no other place to go.»

The proposal of the Landless Movement is to build an agroecological settlement for the production of healthy food, the suspension of the reinstatement in the TJ brings hope to families about the possibility of having this dream conquered with the nullity of the repossession sentence. The settlement project contemplates environmental preservation, solution of social demands of the families involved and regional development.

Families living at Marielle Vive! encampment are fighting for their right to land by carrying out Agrarian Reform in unproductive areas such as the Eldorado Empreendimentos Imobiliaria Farm. With a lot of internal organization, the encampment has production of agroecological food, does not use pesticides, performs tree planting and environmental preservation actions in the Serra dos Cocais.

Valinhos, August 29, 2019

MST/SP Communication