| Written by IWL (FI) |
| Monday, 23 January 2012 04:09 |
 Urgent Denunciation!The community “Pinheirinho” (Sao Jose dos Campos, 97 km far from Sao Paulo), the largest urban settlement in Latin America is under military siege. The Military Police (MP), under the command of the governor of Sao Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB), and fulfilling orders of the Judge Marcia Loureiro, invaded, by surprise, the community where nearly 2,000 families and 9,000 people live, of whom 2,600 are kids . There is an ongoing war against humble and homeless working families. The repossession ordered by the State court is absolutely illegal, because it disobeys the direction of the Federal courts of Brazil. The repression This Sunday, January 22, at 6 o’clock in the morning, about two thousand men of the riot Military Police (PM), from nearby towns, attacked the community with helicopters, pepper and tear gas bombs rubber bullets and even firearms. From the air, the Military Police throws gas bombs against the poor people, against the inhabitants of the community, against workers who have only claimed for a decent place to live. Once the community is under siege (nobody enters or leaves), we have no accurate data on the amount of prisoners, wounded or killed. The population of the surrounding neighborhood is sympathizing with ‘Pinheirinho’ and is also being severely repressed. In the area of “Campo dos Alemães” – an area in front of ‘Pinheirinho’ – where precarious tents were set up to bring Pinheirinho’s inhabitants, several people rebelled and burned cars and clashed with the Military Police (PM). The mood in Sao Jose dos Campos is of confrontation in many parts of the city.  Toninho Ferreira, lawyer for the community’s residents, was wounded with a rubber bullet in his spinal column and in other parts of his body when he was approaching to dialogue with the Military Police (PM). The Mayor and the Governor – Geraldo Alckmin – are the ones responsible for the massacre Those, responsible for this war operation against ‘Pinheirinho’ and against the whole social movement in Latin America, those who are ready to guarantee the capitalist property and to quench the insatiable thirst for profit of the real estate speculators, are the state and municipal governments of PSDB (Alckmin and Eduardo Cury, respectively) and the Judge Marcia Loureiro, all of them “receiving” the money poured by big business. (“big business and corporate lobbyists are packing courts with judges who put special interests ahead of the public interest”). We demand that Dilma’s government defines its position on the matter and implements concrete measures in favor of ‘Pinheirinho’ and against this illegal and unacceptable repression. Let us surround ‘Pinheirinho’ with our solidarity! LIT-IV strongly condemns this attack against the lives of working families and we fully support Pinheirinho’s struggle to achieve a decent place to live.  We call all social and political organizations in Latin America and the world to express their active solidarity with ‘Pinheirinho’s community and to denounce the atrocities of the state government of Sao Paulo, the city of São José dos Campos and the corrupt Brazilian courts. We must continue mobilized and surrounding our ‘Pinheirinho’s comrades with our solidarity. Their struggle is our struggle! |