Bolsonaro Fires Gen. Running Land Reform Program; Economist Implicated In Mass Murder Takes Gig

Brazilian far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has fired the head of the federal agency in charge of the country’s land reform, a move critics say yields to pressure from the powerful farm lobby to push legalization of cleared land in the Amazon — and further increase deforestation in the region as it could create incentives to clear forest land.

On Oct. 1, army general João Carlos de Jesus Corrêa was discharged as the head of the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), a position he held since February of this year. While the Brazilian government did not immediately confirm the decision, Corrêa told local magazine Veja: “I’m leaving with the peace of mind of having done an excellent job with my team.” José Líbio de Moraes Matos, an economist who according to a local report was involved in the Eldorado do Carajás massacre where 19 landless farmers were killed in 1996, was nominated INCRA’s interim head on October 2.

The decision about Corrêa’s dismissal followed an hour-long meeting on the afternoon of Sept. 30, hosted by Bolsonaro with leading agribusiness figures in his government, including Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias and Luiz Nabhan Garcia, who leads the ministry’s land affairs department, according to news reports. “There is a huge concern that these processes will legalize irregular occupations,” said Adriana Ramos, policy director of Brazilian NGO Instituto Socioambiental. “First you deforest in order to occupy the land, then you request regularization,” she said.

INCRA, an agency created in 1970 to regulate land reform and register rural properties, led the colonization of the Amazon during the military dictatorship, and more recently redistributes and entitles rural properties to landless settlements and farmers. In the Amazon, claims for titles are often on deforested land, raising questions about whether the measure will legalize cleared land and encourage further land grabbing.

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https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/brazil-land-reform-head-fired-amid-push-to-legalize-cleared-amazon-land/