text: Seven churches slam Brazil rural violence , impunity . BRASILIA 1996-08-28 Seven churches joined voices on Wednesday to condemn the " day-to-day violence " of Brazil 's rural hinterland and the government 's failure to punish those responsible for massacres of landless peasants . " In the name of Jesus , we want to bring your attention to what is going on in the Brazilian countryside , " two church umbrella groups said in a Letter to the Brazilian People . The letter from National Council of Christian Churches of Brazil and the Coordinate of Ecumenical Service was sent to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso after a seminar on endemic violence gripping rural Brazil . Thirty-six people have died so far this year in conflicts over land in the Brazilian countryside , including 19 landless peasants massacred by police in April in the northern state of Para . " The problem of land is one of the most serious facing Brazil , " said Lucas Moreira Neves , president of the Catholic church 's National Conference of Bishops of Brazil . The letter made reference to massacres of landless peasants in August 1995 and April 1996 , which claimed the lives of 27 landless peasants .