On Thursday afternoon, two teams of the Military Police of Parana, accompanied by security guards of the Araupel plantation company, attacked a camp organized by the peasant landless movement Sem Terra, in the municipality of Quedas do Iguaçu, in the Paraná state. The camp, located in the municipality of Quedas do Iguaçu, in the state of Paraná, is organized with 2,500 families. Two farmer has been killed, Vilmar Bordim, 44, married with three children, and Leomar Bhorbak, 25, who left behind his wife who is nine-months pregnant. Seven workers were also wounded.The camp is located on the land of the timber plantation company Araupel. The company’s property has been however declared as illegal by the justice, since the land - obtained with the fraud - had to be destined to agrarian reform. According to statements by the victims of the attack, there was no previous confrontation. When the ambush occurred, approximately 25 Landless Workers were traveling in a pickup truck, 6 kilometers away from the camp, within the perimeter that was declared public by the Brazilian justice. They were surprised by the police and security forces that were hiding.
Upon seeing them aggressively approach the vehicle, the farmers ran towards the camp, running away from the shooting, to protect themselves.
The place where the ambush occurred was isolated by the police, who prevented the families of the victims, lawyers and journalists, to access the location, and threatening them. The Sem Terra movement dears that the police will destroy any sort of proof that may reveal the truth of this serious events.
According the Sem Terra movement, the Military Police has created a climate of terror in the city of Quadas do Iguaçu, by appropriating the streets, fencing the police station and the hospitals of Quedas do Iguaçu and Cascavel where the wounded are being treated, and preventing the victims from making any type of contact with their families, lawyers or journalists.
The the Sem Terra movement demand an immediate investigation, and the arrest of the policemen and private security forces involved in the violence, and the immediate retreat of the military police and the security forces hired by Araupel.