On Nov. 10, 1999, demonstrations were held in every state of Brazil by the MST and other organizations, including the United Federation of Workers (CUT), one of the main trade union federations. The national day of action condemned the government's foot-dragging on its own land reform commitments. It was also a protest against high unemployment, lack of decent housing for millions, inadequate funding for education, high tolls on the nation's privatized highways, and other critical social problems facing working people.

In the town of Boituva, in the state of Sao Paulo, the demonstration took place at a tollgate on the Castelo Branco highway, one of the many roads that the government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has sold to capitalist interests, which now charge tolls that working people cannot afford to pay.

The police ordered demonstrators to disperse. The protesters asserted their right to protest. In the ensuing conflict, some toll booths were damaged. More than 100 people were arrested and accused of vandalizing toll booths, most of whom were freed.

Six rural workers were tried and convicted on charges of theft, arson, and damaging public facilities. Five were sentenced to eight years and 10 months in prison, and one was sentenced to 11 years. In a vindictive gesture, the judge ruled that they would have to serve at least 90 percent of their sentences.

The six workers are Elvis Vieira Ferreira Lima, 21; Edimar Pereira dos Santos, 18; Benedito Ismael Alves Cardoso, 49; Valquimar Reis Fernandes, 30; Rosalino Bispo de Oliveira, 21; Odair Moraes da Rosa, 26. All of them are members of the Nova Canudos camp, one of many farm settlements organized by the MST on unused land belonging to wealthy landowners.

Several of the imprisoned activists were unemployed rural workers who joined the MST to get a piece of land to farm and to be part of the fighting social movement in the countryside that the MST has been leading in Brazil. They became members of the Nova Canudos camp and have been active in land reform actions since then.

The Committee for the Defense of Democracy, established to win justice for the six workers, has produced a pamphlet explaining the facts of the case. It described the trial as a politically motivated frame-up. The prosecution never provided evidence proving that the defendants actually took part in the actions they were accused of. In sentencing them, the judge made clear her political prejudice, stating that the "militants want a piece of land but are used as tools by the leadership of a movement that crosses the ideological limits to assume pre-revolutionary positions in order to carry out public disorder, challenging the country's institutions."

Supporters of democratic rights are urged to send protest messages demanding the immediate release of the "Boituva Six" to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Palácio do Planalto, CEP 70150-900, Brasilia, Brazil; fax (011) 55-61-441-2222; e-mail pr@planalto.gov.br .  
 
 
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