Editing Landless Workers' Movement (section)

=== 2005–2010 Lula government and March for Agrarian Reform ===

The Lula government was seen by the MST as a leftist and therefore friendly government, so MST decided to shun occupations of public buildings in favor of actions against private landed states{{clarify|date=July 2017}}, in a second wave of occupations starting in 2003.<ref>Cf. Bernardo Mançano, interview.</ref> However, the Lula government's increasingly conservative positions, including its low profile on land reform,<ref>out of a promised grand total of 430,000 resettled families, Lula had managed to actually settle a mere 60,000 in the first two years of his administration</ref><ref>Alfred P. Montero, ''Brazilian politics: reforming a democratic state in a changing world''. Cambridge, UK, Polity Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0-7456-3361-7}}, page 139</ref> (actually somewhat less than achieved by Cardoso in his first term<ref>Wendy Hunter, ''The Transformation of the Workers' Party in Brazil, 1989–2009 ''. Cambridge University Press, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-521-73300-7}}, page 153</ref>) impelled the movement to change its stance as early as early 2004, when it again began to occupy public buildings and [[Banco do Brasil]] agencies.

In June 2003, the MST occupied the [[R&D]] farm of the [[Monsanto|Monsanto Company]] in the state of [[Goiás]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2961284.stm |title=Americas &#124; Brazil activists target Monsanto |publisher=BBC News |date=2003-06-03 |access-date=2012-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110901092846/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2961284.stm |archive-date=2011-09-01 |url-status=live }}</ref> On March 7, 2008, a similar action by women activists at another Monsanto facility in [[Santa Cruz das Palmeiras]], [[São Paulo]], destroyed a nursery and an experimental patch of [[genetically modified maize]], slowing ongoing scientific research. MST said they destroyed the facility to protest government support for the extensive use of GMOs supplied by transnational corporations in agriculture. In 2003, Lula authorized the sale and use of GM soybeans, which led MST's Stedile to call him a "[[Transgene|transgenic]] politician."<ref>Marie-Monique Robin, ''The World According to Monsanto'', New York, The New Press, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-59558-426-7}}, page 277.</ref> The dominance of transnationals over Brazilian seed production was summed by the fact that the Brazilian hybrid seed industry in the early 2000s was already 82% Monsanto-owned,<ref>Saturnino M. Borras, Marc Edelman, Cristóbal Kay, eds.''Transnational agrarian movements confronting globalization'',Malden MA, Blackwell, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-4051-9041-1}}, page 184</ref> which the MST saw as detrimental to the development of [[organic agriculture]] in spite of the economic benefits, and enabling possible future health hazards similar to intensive use of [[pesticides]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mst.org.br/node/944 |title=Via Campesina ocupa Monsanto e destrói experimentos em SP &#124; MST - Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra |publisher=MST |access-date=2012-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902203950/http://www.mst.org.br/node/944 |archive-date=2012-09-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Stedile later called Monsanto one of the ten transnational companies that controlled virtually all international agrarian production and [[commodity]] trading.<ref>Erin C. Heil, ''Powerless resistance: a theoretical discussion of power, resistance and the Brazilian Landless Movement''. D, Phil. Dissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2008, page 125. Available at [https://books.google.com/books?id=qQ-YbK_nMd0C] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161216061045/https://books.google.com/books?id=qQ-YbK_nMd0C&printsec=frontcover|date=2016-12-16}}</ref> Similarly, in 2006, the MST occupied a research station in [[Paraná (state)|Paraná]] owned by Swiss corporation [[Syngenta]], which had produced GMO contamination near the [[Iguaçu National Park]]. After a bitter confrontation over the existence of the station (which included easing of previous restrictions by the Lula government to allow Syngenta to continue GMO research), the premises were transferred to the Paraná state government, and converted into an agroecology research center.<ref>Michael Ekers, Gillian Hart, Stefan Kipfer, Alex Loftus, eds: ''Gramsci: Space, Nature, Politics''. Malden, MA, Wiley-Blackwell, 2013, {{ISBN|978-1-4443-3970-3}}, pages 154/155</ref>

After an exchange of barbs between Lula and Stedile over what Lula saw as an unnecessary radicalization of the movement's demands,<ref>Peter R. Kingstone, Timothy Joseph Power,eds. ''Democratic Brazil revisited''. University of Pittisburgh Press, 2008, {{ISBN|0-8229-6004-4}}, page 47</ref> the MST decided to call a huge national demonstration. In May 2005, after a two-week, 200-odd kilometer march from the city of [[Goiânia]], nearly 13,000 landless workers arrived in their nation's capital, [[Brasília]]. The MST march targeted the U.S. embassy and Brazilian Finance Ministry, rather than President Lula. While thousands of landless carried banners and scythes through the streets, a delegation of 50 held a three-hour meeting with Lula, who donned an MST cap for the cameras. During this session, Lula recommitted to settling 430,000 families by the end of 2006, and to allocating the human and financial resources to accomplish this. He also committed to a range of related reforms, including an increase in the pool of land available for redistribution [Ramos, 2005]. Later, the Lula government would claim to have resettled 381,419 families between 2002 and 2006—a claim disputed by the MST.<ref>Jorge Almeida, ed., ''Brazil in focus: economic, political and social issues''. New York: Nova Science, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-60456-165-4}}, page 20</ref> The movement argued the numbers had been doctored by the inclusion of people already living in areas (national forests and other managed areas of environmental protection, as well as other already existing settlements) where their presence had only been legally acknowledged by the government.<ref>"Folha de S.Paulo Reports: Lula Government Inflates Agrarian Reform Numbers". February 19, 2007, MST site, available at [http://www.mstbrazil.org/news/021907-folha-de-sao-paulo-reports-lula-government-inflates-agrarian-reform-numbers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927151018/http://www.mstbrazil.org/news/021907-folha-de-sao-paulo-reports-lula-government-inflates-agrarian-reform-numbers|date=2011-09-27}}</ref> The MST also criticised Lula's administration to call mere land redistribution by means of handing out of small plots land as "reform," when it was simply a form of [[welfarism]] (''assistencialismo'') that was unable to change the productive system.<ref name=":0"/>

The march was held to demand, among other things, that President Lula implement his own limited agrarian reform plan, rather than spend the project's budget on servicing the national debt [Ramos, 2005]. Several MST leaders met with President [[Lula da Silva]] on May 18, 2005—a meeting that had been resisted by Lula since his taking of office.<ref>Kathryn Hochstetler, ''Civil society in Lula's Brazil''. Centre for Brazilian Studies, University of Oxford, Working Paper 57, page 10. Available at {{cite web |url=http://www.brazil.ox.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/9365/Kathryn20Hochstedler2057.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-08-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928233030/http://www.brazil.ox.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/9365/Kathryn20Hochstedler2057.pdf |archive-date=2011-09-28 }}</ref> The leaders presented Lula with 16 demands, including economic reform, greater public spending, and public housing. In interviews with [[Reuters]], many of the leaders said they still regarded Lula as an ally, but demanded that he accelerate his promised land reforms. However, in September of that year, João Pedro Stedile declared that, in terms of land reform, Lula's government was "finished."<ref>Richard Bourne, ''Lula of Brazil: the story so far ''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008, {{ISBN|978-0-520-24663-8}}, page 139</ref> By the end of Lula's first term, it was clear that the MST had decided to act again as a separate movement, irrespective of the government's agenda.<ref>Kurt Gerhard Weyland, Raúl L. Madrid, Wendy Hunter, eds: ''Leftist Governments in Latin America: Successes and Shortcomings''. Cambridge University Press, 2010, {{ISBN|978-0-521-13033-2}}, page 122</ref> As far as the MST was concerned, the greatest gain it received from the Lula government was the ''non-criminalization'' of the movement itself; the tough, anti-occupation measures taken by the Cardoso government were left in abeyance, and not enforced.<ref>Gabriel Ondetti, ''Land, Property and Politics'', page 207</ref> Attempts to officially define the MST as a "terrorist organization" were also opposed by Workers' Party congresspersons.<ref>Arinda Fernandes, "Crime Organizado e Terrorismo:Uma Relação Simbiótica Afetando {{not a typo|a}} Economia Global". ''Revista do Mestrado em Direito da UCB'', n.d.g., page 14. Available at {{cite web |url=http://portalrevistas.ucb.br/index.php/rvmd/article/view/2511/1529 |title=Fernandes |access-date=2011-12-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713172230/http://portalrevistas.ucb.br/index.php/rvmd/article/view/2511/1529 |archive-date=2012-07-13 }} . Accessed December 16, 2011</ref> Nevertheless, the Lula government never acted in tandem with the MST, according to a general pattern of keeping organized social movements outside the fostering of the government's agenda.<ref>Steven Levitsky, Kenneth M. Roberts, eds. ''The Resurgence of the Latin American Left''. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011, {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0109-6}}, page 301</ref>

However, as stated by a German author, the Lula government year after year proposed a blueprint for land reform that was regularly blocked by regional agrarian elites.<ref>Christoph Blepp, ''Blockaden und Disparitäten?: Über das Entwicklungspotential und dessen Hindernisse in Brasilien''. GRIN Verlag, 2011, n;p.g., page 10</ref>

Lula's election to the presidency raised the possibility of active government support for land reform, so conservative media increased their efforts to brand the MST's actions as felonies.<ref>Noemí María Girbal-Blacha, Sonia Regina de Mendonça, eds., ''Cuestiones Agrarias en Argentina y Brasil'', Buenos Aires, Prometeo, 2007, {{ISBN|978-987-574-200-0}}, pages 146/147</ref> In May 2005, ''Veja'' accused the MST of helping the [[Primeiro Comando da Capital]] (PCC), the most powerful prison-gang criminal organization in [[State of São Paulo|São Paulo]]. A police [[Telephone tapping|phone tap]] recording of a conversation between PCC leaders mentioned the MST; one of them said he had "just talked with the leaders of the MST," who would "give instructions" to the gang <ref>{{cite web |url=http://veja.abril.com.br/110505/p_106.html |title=VEJA on-line |publisher=Veja.abril.com.br |access-date=2012-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102175022/http://veja.abril.com.br/110505/p_106.html |archive-date=2013-11-02 |url-status=live }}</ref> about the best ways to stage what became the largest protest by prisoners' relatives in Brazilian history. On April 18, 2005, some 3,000 relatives protested prevailing conditions in São Paulo's correctional facilities.<ref>Police Brutality Observatory site [http://www.ovp-sp.org/protestos_sap.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091220085724/http://ovp-sp.org/protestos_sap.htm|date=2009-12-20}}. Retrieved October 19, 2014</ref> The MST "leaders" were not named. No MST activist, real or alleged, took part in the taped conversations. The MST denied any link in a formal written statement, calling the supposed evidence hearsay, and an attempt to criminalize the movement.<ref>{{cite web |publisher= Terra |date= 2006-05-16 |url= http://noticias.terra.com.br/brasil/guerraurbana/interna/0,,OI1007590-EI7061,00.html |title= MST descarta ligação com PCC |access-date= 2006-05-22 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110606012740/http://noticias.terra.com.br/brasil/guerraurbana/interna/0,,OI1007590-EI7061,00.html |archive-date= 2011-06-06 |url-status= live }}</ref> In the wake of [[9-11|9/11]], Brazilian media tended to describe the MST as "terrorists," lumping it together loosely with various historical and mediatic happenings<ref>Fhoutine Marie Reis Souto, "Mídia e terror: a pesquisa sobre cobertura jornalística do terrorismo no Brasil", page 6. Brazilian Political Science Association (ABCP) paper, available at {{cite web |url=http://cienciapolitica.servicos.ws/abcp2010/arquivos/12_7_2010_16_12_50.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-12-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426053812/http://cienciapolitica.servicos.ws/abcp2010/arquivos/12_7_2010_16_12_50.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-26 }}. Accessed December 16, 2011.</ref> in keeping with an international post-9/11 trends of relegating any political movement against existing globalization to beyond the pale, and outside the boundaries of permissible political discourse.<ref>Stanley Aronowitz, Heather Gautney, eds., ''Implicating Empire: Globalization and Resistance in the 21st Century World Order''. New York: Basic Books, 2003, {{ISBN|978-0-465-00494-2}}, page 282</ref>

The MST assumes its activities are continuously surveilled by military intelligence.<ref>Alvarado, Arturo, "The Militarization of Internal Security and Its Consequences for Democracy: A Comparison Between Brazil, Mexico and Colombia". APSA 2010 Annual Meeting Paper. Available at [https://ssrn.com/abstract=1642562] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140121035716/https://ssrn.com/abstract=1642562|date=2014-01-21}}</ref> Various intelligence organs, Brazilian and foreign, assume a relationship between the MST and various terrorist groups.<ref>John B. Alexander, "Intelligence Scotomas in Central and South America", ''The Proteus Monograph Series'', Vol. 1, issue 4, March 2008.</ref> The MST is regarded as a source of "civil unrest."<ref>Karl R. DeRouen, Uk Heo: ''Defense and security: a compendium of national armed forces and security policies''. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, Calif., Volume I, page. 75; Gary Prevost,ed. ''Neoliberalism and Neopanamericanism: the view from Latin America'', New York: Palgrave, 2002, {{ISBN|0-312-29456-5}}, page 116</ref>

In late 2005, a parliamentary inquiry commission, where landowner-friendly congressmen held a majority, classified the MST's activities as terrorism, and the MST itself as a criminal organization. However, its report met no support from the PT members of the commission, and a senator ripped it up before TV cameras, saying that those who voted for it were "accomplices of murder, people who use slave labor, [and] who embezzle land illegally."<ref>Relatório de CPI chama invasão de terra de "ato terrorista". ''Folha de S. Paulo'', 29 November 2005. Available at [http://noticias.uol.com.br/ultnot/reuters/2005/11/29/ult27u52567.jhtm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406082249/http://noticias.uol.com.br/ultnot/reuters/2005/11/29/ult27u52567.jhtm|date=2012-04-06}}</ref> Nevertheless, based on this report, a bill presented to the Chamber of Deputies in 2006 by Congressman Abelardo Lupion ([[Democrats (Brazil)|Democrats]]- Paraná), proposed making "invading others' property with the end of pressuring the government" a terrorist action, and therefore, a heinous crime. A "heinous" crime in Brazilian law is a felony, designated as such in a 1990 Brazilian law, and those accused of committing them are ineligible for [[Bail|pretrial release]].<ref>Robert Gay, ''Lucia:testimonies of a Brazilian drug dealer's woman''. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|1-59213-339-8}}, page 191</ref><ref>Rafael Litvin Villas Bôas, "Terrorismo à brasileira: a retórica da vez da classe dominante contra o MST". ''Revista NERA'', Ano 11, nº. 13, July-Dec./2008. Available at [http://www2.fct.unesp.br/nera/revistas/13/15_villas_boas_13.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425031953/http://www2.fct.unesp.br/nera/revistas/13/15_villas_boas_13.pdf|date=2012-04-25}} Retrieved December 11, 2011</ref>

In April 2006, the MST took over the farm of [[Suzano Papel e Celulose]], a large maker of paper products, in the state of [[Bahia]], because it had more than six square kilometres devoted to [[eucalyptus]] growth.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u77917.shtml |title=Folha Online - Brasil - Pedido do Incra faz PM suspender reintegração de posse na Suzano - 27/04/2006 |publisher=.folha.uol.com.br |date=2006-04-27 |access-date=2012-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927000507/http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u77917.shtml |archive-date=2011-09-27 |url-status=live }}</ref> Eucalyptus, a non-native plant, has been blamed for environmental degradation in northeastern Brazil,<ref>[http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/6236/53/] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061125211634/http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/6236/53/|date=November 25, 2006}}</ref> as well as reducing the availability of land for small agricultural production, called by some as "cornering" producers (''encurralados pelo eucalipto'').<ref>Lateinamerika-Dokumentationsstelle Kassel, ''Tradionelle Völker und Gemeinschaft in Brasilien'', Kassel, 2011, {{ISBN|978-3-86219-150-5}}, page 114</ref>  In 2011, ''Veja'' described such activities as plain theft of eucalyptus wood, quoting an estimate from the state's military police that 3,000 people earned a living in Southern Bahia from theft of wood.<ref>''Veja'', issue 2,216, 11 May 2011</ref>

In 2008, a group of public attorneys from [[Rio Grande do Sul]] who were working with the state's military police issued a report, charging the MST with collusion with international terrorist groups. The report was used in state courts, according to [[Amnesty International]], to justify eviction orders carried out by the police with "excessive use of force."<ref>Amnesty International, ''Informe 2009 Amnistía International'' (in Spanish), Madrid:2009, {{ISBN|978-84-96462-23-6}}, pages 124–125</ref> The group of attorneys made public a previously classified report by the Council of Public Attorneys of Rio Grande do Sul, and asked the state to ban the MST by declaring it an illegal organization.

The report declared further investigation pointless, "as it was public knowledge that the movement and its leadership were guilty of engaging in organized criminality." The report also proposed that where MST activists could "cause electoral disequilibrium," the activists' right to vote be withdrawn by striking them from the voter registry.<ref>Pedrinho A. Guareschi, Alinne Hernandez, Manuel Cardenas, orgs. : ''Representaçoes Sociais em Movimento''. Porto Alegre: EDIPUCRS, 2010, {{ISBN|978-85-7430-989-7}}, page 33</ref> Declarations issued at the same time by the State Association of Military Policy Commissioned Officers, in an open [[Red Scare]] vein, declared the MST "an organized movement, striving at instituting a totalitarian state in our country."<ref>Mario Guerreiro, "Ele estava certo e todos estavam errados". Federal University of Santa Catarina paper, n.d.g., available at [http://www.egov.ufsc.br/portal/sites/default/files/anexos/30635-32482-1-PB.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407020533/http://www.egov.ufsc.br/portal/sites/default/files/anexos/30635-32482-1-PB.pdf|date=2012-04-07}}. Accessed December 27, 2011</ref>

Between September 27 and October 7, 2009, the MST occupied an orange plantation in [[Borebi]], State of São Paulo, owned by orange juice multinational [[Cutrale]]. The corporation claimed to have lost R$1.2 million (roughly US$603,000) in damaged equipment, missing pesticide, destroyed crops, and trees cut by MST activists.<ref>"Cutrale afirma que MST causou R$1,2 milhão de prejuízo em sua fazenda de laranja". Agencia Brasil newssite, October 14, 2009, [http://memoria.ebc.com.br/agenciabrasil/noticia/2009-10-14/cutrale-afirma-que-mst-causou-r12-milhao-de-prejuizo-em-sua-fazenda-de-laranja] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019230740/http://memoria.ebc.com.br/agenciabrasil/noticia/2009-10-14/cutrale-afirma-que-mst-causou-r12-milhao-de-prejuizo-em-sua-fazenda-de-laranja|date=2014-10-19}}. Retrieved October 19, 2014</ref> In response, the MST declared the farm to be government property that was illegally embezzled by Cutrale, and that the occupation was intended to protest this, while the destruction was done by provocateurs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vermelho.org.br/noticia.php?id_secao=8&id_noticia=120383 |title=Carta Capital: Os vencdos não se entregam - Portal Vermelho |publisher=Vermelho.org.br |access-date=2012-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614132100/http://www.vermelho.org.br/noticia.php?id_secao=8&id_noticia=120383 |archive-date=2012-06-14 |url-status=live }}</ref> Such questioning of the legality of existing private property by denouncing landowners as holding land in [[adverse possession]] was one of the movement's main political tools.<ref>Boaventura de Sousa Santos, César A. Rodríguez Garavito, eds.: ''Land and Globalization from Below: towards a cosmopolitan legality''. Cambridge University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-521-60735-3}}, page 226</ref> The Cutrale plantation, Fazenda S. Henrique, was occupied by the MST four more times until 2013, and the multinational's property rights over it are being contested in court by the Federal Government, who alleges that the farm lands were set aside as part of a 1910 settlement projects for foreign immigrants, rights over it going afterward astray during the following century.<ref>"MST volta a ocupar fazenda da Cutrale no interior paulista". Agencia Brasil newssite, July 31, 2013, [http://memoria.ebc.com.br/agenciabrasil/noticia/2013-07-31/mst-volta-ocupar-fazenda-da-cutrale-no-interior-paulista] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019230753/http://memoria.ebc.com.br/agenciabrasil/noticia/2013-07-31/mst-volta-ocupar-fazenda-da-cutrale-no-interior-paulista|date=2014-10-19}}. Retrieved October 19, 2014</ref>

During the same period, the MST also repeatedly blocked highways<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u78096.shtml |title=Folha Online - Brasil - MST pára estrada na Bahia e acampa em Goiânia para exigir reforma agrária - 02/05/2006 |publisher=.folha.uol.com.br |date=1970-01-01 |access-date=2012-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927000702/http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u78096.shtml |archive-date=2011-09-27 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u69159.shtml|title=Folha Online - Brasil - Sem-terra bloqueiam quatro rodovias em Mato Grosso - 23/05/2005|website=www1.folha.uol.com.br|access-date=22 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215224603/https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u69159.shtml|archive-date=15 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u67747.shtml|title=Folha Online - Brasil - MST interdita rodovia em Pernambuco - 10/03/2005|website=www1.folha.uol.com.br|access-date=22 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215222756/https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u67747.shtml|archive-date=15 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u59971.shtml |title=Folha Online - Brasil - MST interdita rodovia e inicia duas marchas no PA - 12/04/2004 |publisher=.folha.uol.com.br |date=1970-01-01 |access-date=2012-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927000759/http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u59971.shtml |archive-date=2011-09-27 |url-status=live }}</ref> and railroads,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u61599.shtml |title=Folha Online - Brasil - Depois de parar ferrovia, MST volta a invadir no entorno de BH - 11/06/2004 |publisher=.folha.uol.com.br |date=1970-01-01 |access-date=2012-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927000821/http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u61599.shtml |archive-date=2011-09-27 |url-status=live }}</ref> to create calls for public attention to the plight of landless workers.<ref>Lee J. Alston, Gary D. Libecap, and Bernardo Mueller, "Interest Groups, Information Manipulation in the Media, and Public Policy: The Case of the Landless Peasants Movement in Brazil". NBER Working Paper No. 15865, April 2010, page 12. Available at [http://www.nber.org/papers/w15865.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915163411/http://www.nber.org/papers/w15865.pdf|date=2015-09-15}}. Accessed December 16, 2010.</ref>