Liga de Campesinos Pobres

The Liga de Campesinos Pobres (LCP) in Pau d'Arco (Pará state) is a movement of farmers, rural workers and human rights defenders who work to protect the land rights of their communities. Many lands in this region are occupied by the so-called grileiros, a term referring to people who have seized control of large tracts of land often using dubious title documents. This is a recurring problem across Brazil and is the root cause of many conflicts in which human rights defenders are killed for protecting the rights of their communities. It is estimated that in Brazil 64 per cent of the land is occupied or owned by 8 per cent of the population. 

On 24 May 2017, ten members of LCP (Jane Julia de Oliveira, Weldson Pereira da Silva; Nelson Souza Milhomem; Weclebson Pereira Milhomem; Ozeir Rodrigues da Silva; Jane Julia de Oliveira; Regivaldo Pereira da Silva; Ronaldo Pereira de Souza; Bruno Henrique Pereira Gomes; Antonio Pereira Milhomem; Hércules Santos de Oliveira) were shot dead in the municipality of Pau D’Arco. The killing took place when police carried out an attack on a camp of participants in a land occupation on the Santa Lúcia estate, one of the land disputed by local farmers. The police claim that the killings in Pau D’Arco took place during an armed confrontation, but there is no evidence of armed violence by the LCP members.  According to local media reports, the police managed to approach the estate without being observed and opened fire on the members of the LCP. Several people who had hidden were shot dead by the police after being captured.