Eldorado do Carajás massacre
The Eldorado do Carajás massacre (Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐˈsakɾi dʒi ɛwdoˈɾaðu ðus kɐɾɐˈʒas]) was the mass killing of nineteen landless farmers who were squatting at a private ranch. They were shot by military police on April 17, 1996, in the southern region of the Pará state, Brazil.
On April 17, 1996, 19 members of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Landless Workers Movement) or MST were shot by Pará state military police at the "S" curve of highway PA-150 in Eldorado do Carajás municipality, in southern Pará state. These people were part of a demonstration calling for the federal appropriation of a private ranch where the MST had mounted a camp called "Macaxeira" with almost 3000 families.
On the orders of the state secretary of public security, , the police were ordered to clear the highway "at any cost".[1]
Designation as a massacre[]
The Portuguese word massacre has been used repeatedly and consistently in the Brazilian press to describe the shooting deaths of these farmers. There are well over 100 Brazilian news internet sites which use the exact phrase "massacre de Eldorado de Carajás" to designate these killings.
Aftermath[]
On May 7, 2012, sixteen years after the event, the two commanders of the Eldorado do Carajas massacre, in which 19 people were killed, were finally jailed.
Remembrance[]
The President of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, Arlindo Chinaglia, gave a speech to remember the horror of the "Massacre de Eldorado de Carajás" in Brasília on 17 April 2008, to mark the 12th year after the massacre. See: "Chinaglia afirma que Massacre de Eldorado do Carajás é o maior contra trabalhadores brasileiros".
References[]
See also[]
- 1989 Santa Elmira massacre
- 2017 Santa Lúcia massacre
- List of massacres in Brazil
- Os 20 anos do massacre de Eldorado do Carajás
- April 1996 crimes
- 1996 crimes in Brazil
- 1996 murders in South America
- 1990s murders in Brazil
- Mass murder in 1996
- Massacres in 1996
- 1990s mass shootings in South America
- 1996 mass shootings
- Mass shootings in Brazil
- Massacres in Brazil
- Pará
- Crimes committed by law enforcement
- Protest-related deaths