Brazil recorded a record number of conflicts in the countryside in 2023, according to a report released today (22) by the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT). Last year, 2,203 agrarian conflicts were recorded in the country.
In the last decade, until then, the highest number of conflicts had been recorded in 2020, with 2,130 cases.
These conflicts can be related to land, water, work, among others. Some examples of violence in the countryside are cases of pistol-whipping, land grabbing, land invasion, expulsion, destruction of belongings, work similar to slavery, among others.
The Brazilian states with the most occurrences of conflicts in the countryside in 2023 were:
- Bahia – 249 cases
- Pará – 227 cases
- Maranhão – 206 cases
- Rondônia – 186 cases
- Goiás – 167 cases
Some types of violence also reached a record last year, such as pistol-whipping, with 264 reported cases, and the destruction of belongings, which happened 101 times.
Still according to the CPT, the agents causing these conflicts can be private or public. Together, farmers, businesspeople and land grabbers account for 59.94% of all cases of violence registered in 2023. Another 22.54% came from the State.
The main victims of violence in the countryside are indigenous people, targeted in 29.6% of cases, followed by squatters, landless people and quilombolas.
During the presentation of the data contained in the report, this Monday morning (22), the national coordinator of the CPT said that the numbers are surprising. “The number of conflicts in the countryside increased in the year that we expected these numbers to reduce. We have a government that claims to be progressive, that claims to be an ally of rural people, but even so we still have a long way to go,” she stated.
Conflicts in the countryside in the last decade:
- 2023 – 2,203 cases
- 2022 – 2,050 cases
- 2021 – 1,838 cases
- 2020 – 2,130 cases
- 2019 – 1,963 cases
- 2018 – 1,567 cases
- 2017 – 1,524 cases
- 2016 – 1,636 cases
- 2015 – 1,380 cases
- 2014 – 1,399 cases
Drop in homicides
Despite the increase in reports of episodes of violence in the countryside, the Pastoral Land Commission points to a reduction in murders that occurred last year compared to the previous year.
In 2023, 31 homicides were recorded in rural areas. In 2022, there were 47 deaths. The 2023 total is also the lowest since 2020, when 21 deaths were recorded in the country.
In the last ten years, the highest number of homicides in the countryside was recorded in 2017, with 72 cases.
Murders in the countryside in the last decade:
- 2023 – 31 cases
- 2022 – 47 cases
- 2021 – 36 cases
- 2020 – 21 cases
- 2019 – 32 cases
- 2018 – 30 cases
- 2017 – 72 cases
- 2016 – 64 cases
- 2015 – 50 cases
- 2014 – 37 cases
Source: CNN Brasil
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