The decision, which authorizes the eviction of residents of the Marielle Vive camp, contradicts a ruling that suspended forced removals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Valinhos, Brazil – The camp was created on April 14, 2018 and named after Rio de Janeiro socialist city councilwoman Marielle Franco who was murdered a month before. Since then, the residents have transformed the abandoned land into a thriving community that provides housing for the residents, a school, a community kitchen, and produces agroecological products and handicrafts. They now face eviction after a court ruling that clearly favors real estate speculation and generating profit for its investors over the social and legal right to housing and agrarian reform.
On 23 November, the São Paulo Court of Justice authorized the eviction of 450 families living in the Landless Rural Workers Movement’s (MST) Marielle Vive camp in Valinhos. The decision came in response to a repossession suit filed by El Dorado Empreendimentos Imobiliários Farm, which holds the property deeds for the area.
The court order contradicts Law 14.216/21 enacted by Congress in October 2021, which suspended forced removals until December 31 due to the current COVID-19 related health crisis.
The families have been living in the camp for more than three years and seven months. In 2018, when the area was occupied, the farm was abandoned and kept unproductive by its notary owner.
It was only after the occupation by the farmers that the real estate company saw fit to claim the property in court, stating that it would give a social function to the land. In September 2020, Judge José Tarciso Beraldo of the São Paulo Court of Justice suspended the repossession due to the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, a decision that was reversed on November 23.
In a statement, representatives of the families that live and produce on the site classified the court order as “very serious and inconsistent given the current COVID-19 situation”. “In 2018, when the occupation of the area took place, the farm was an abandoned and unproductive area with the sole purpose of real estate speculation for the profit of its investors,” the statement said.
Read the full statement below:
On Tuesday, November 23rd, the Justice Tribunal of São Paulo decided to maintain the repossession claim against 450 families of the Marielle Vive Camp in Valinhos.
This decision is very serious and inconsequential given the validity of COVID-19. It also exposes the real interests represented and how the judicial system works. Despite the constitutional crime El Dorado Empreendimentos Imobiliários Farm committed for years by not fulfilling the agreed social function of the land and degrading the soil and the environment, the Court decided to uphold the precarious possession of the farm destined to real estate speculation, which usurps the land in detriment of the social and legal right to housing and agrarian reform.
It is the law of capital and private property against human rights. EVICTION DURING A PANDEMIC IS A CRIME!
The families of the Marielle Vive encampment have been on the Eldorado Empreendimentos Imobiliários Farm for more than three years and seven months. In 2018, when the occupation of the area took place, the farm was an abandoned and unproductive area with the sole purpose of real estate speculation for the profit of its investors.
With the Landless, the farm has been transformed into a large productive encampment, which donates healthy food and sells baskets of agroecological products and handicrafts, generating income, and building dignity and possibilities for life.
We continue to fight for our sons and daughters and for our rights with the hope that one day workers’ justice will win!
We invite all allies to make and post short videos or photos signed MARIELLE FICA in your networks and tag us @mstsp @acampamentomariellevivesp_