Canudos Settlement

Canudos Settlement: Origin and Struggles for its Consolidation

     The Canudos Settlement has its origin in October of 1997 in honour of the Canudos Community at Bahia. It was result of the occupation of Palmeiras farm (extention of 12.757 hectares) and belonging to Colemar Rezende’s family – whom was president of União Democrática Ruralista at 90s. The settlement is located between the cities of Palmeiras de Goiás, Campestre de Goiás and Guapó with 98 km, 50 km and 40 km, respectively.

Figure 1 – Localization of Canudos Settlement

     The first occupation occurred in the first hours of October 6, 1997, including only 124 families, but with representatives in most locals where the base work was done. Although the initial expectation of occupation was include more families, some of them were afraid, considering the act as dangerous, or they didn’t get resources to travel till the area. It is important to remark that the resources to the occupation come from the own families that do the action. 

     The name of camp was chosen by the families itself after the occupation of the farm and defined as Canudos because it was near of the date of the 100 years of the Canudos massacre. It is in honour of public fight and the resistance of people that was leaving the drought and starting a new way of relations among people and the use of the land. 

     The families stayed still in the local by nine days under pressure, both from the farmer as well as from police and politics of region. The allies’ latifundiarists formed a group in solidarity to the owner of the occupied farm. In the side of the families were a Dominican noun and the state coordination of Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST - Movement of Landless Rural Workers) which tried to lead the people to support the fight and to give solidarity to the families.

     The local of occupation was denominated by the families as the “Morro dos Macacos” (Monkey Hill) and was marked by the constantly presence of Military Police and the visits of religious and politics that tried to find a peaceful solution to the conflict stablished in the area.

Figure 2 – “March for peace, social justice and agrarian reform” from Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST)

      The Settlement's approbation, after four consecutive occupations of the farm and the conflicts with public force towards the non-expropriation by the Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (INCRA), was effective in January, 2001, after four years of fight.

     Then the authorization of possess and installment determined that 52% to Reserva Legal and Área de Preservação Permanente (Legal Reservation and Permanent Preservation Area) and 48% to the families, with 18 hectares to each one. To the effectiveness of Canudos Settlement the benefited families signed a Commitment and Conduct Adjustment Term, named TAC, which is proposed by the Public Ministry, Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources and (IBAMA). In this term, the families were committed to the preservation of environment of the natural areas of the settlement.

    The 320 families that actually composed the Canudos Settlement participate actively on the geographical distribution of the areas. The land presented high potential production and the government made aside with Universidade Federal de Goiás the Plano de Desenvolvimento do Assentamento – PDA (Develop plan of Settlement) and implanted the National Program of Familiar Agriculture (PRONAF) to support the families. This is the program of investment specified to settlement families of land reform and its goal is the production in the area. The maximum amount to financing is R$ 21.500,00 per family and around 80% of the resources are utilized to the acquisition of cattle to milk production.