Their forefathers were enslaved. Now, 400 years later, their children will be landowners
Rare victory for Brazilian poor, as record Amazon land tract is handed over to descendants of escaped enslaved people
Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
@domphillips
Mon 5 Mar 2018 04.00 EST
It was a modest ceremony for such a significant victory: it is not every day that the descendants of enslaved people are given the title to their land. But there was no doubt of its importance at a time when the protection of Brazil’s traditional rural communities is threatened by a conservative government in league with powerful agribusiness interests.
This weekend, Simão Jatene, the governor of Pará state, signed a document giving land titles for more than 220,000 hectares of Amazon forest to an isolated community populated by descendants of enslaved people who escaped centuries ago.
The 500 inhabitants of Cachoeira Porteira have spent 23 years trying to get legal rights to their territory. “It has a very important meaning for us,” said Valterlane Souza, 34, who was born and raised in the community. “Everyone was too emotional to talk.”
Some 950km from the state capital, Belém, Cachoeira Porteira is a “quilombo” – a rural settlement founded by descendants of enslaved people, of which there are some 6,000 in Brazil, said Denildo “Biko” Rodrigues, national coordinator of quilombo association Conaq.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/05/descendants-of-slaves-celebrate-brazil-land-rights-victory
Editorials and other articles:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016202637