30-01-2013, 08:30 AM
RIO DE JANEIRO - One of Brazil's most longstanding land reform activists, Cicero Guedes, was found dead Saturday, his body riddled by bullets and dumped at the side of a highway, supporters said in a statement.
The Landless Farmworkers' Movement said Guedes's corpse was found in Campos dos Goytacazes, in northern Rio de Janeiro state. Police believe he was killed between late Friday and early Saturday and are investigating.
Guedes's body had several bullet wounds, local news agency Agencia Brasil reported.
The landless farmers' group, known by its initials MST, charged that the activist's killing was "fruit of the (systemic) violence of the large landholdings system, the impunity in (MST supporters' murder) cases, and the slow pace" of government-led land reform.
Guedes had for 11 years coordinated a squatting campaign on abandoned land in Campos, 275 kilometers (171 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro, which is surrounded by large landholders' farms.
The Landless Farmworkers' Movement said Guedes's corpse was found in Campos dos Goytacazes, in northern Rio de Janeiro state. Police believe he was killed between late Friday and early Saturday and are investigating.
Guedes's body had several bullet wounds, local news agency Agencia Brasil reported.
The landless farmers' group, known by its initials MST, charged that the activist's killing was "fruit of the (systemic) violence of the large landholdings system, the impunity in (MST supporters' murder) cases, and the slow pace" of government-led land reform.
Guedes had for 11 years coordinated a squatting campaign on abandoned land in Campos, 275 kilometers (171 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro, which is surrounded by large landholders' farms.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass