Seven unknown men armed with guns invaded the Terra Prometida camp, in Felisburgo
city, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and killed five members of the
Brazilian Landless Workers Movement movement (MST). The Terra Prometida camp
had been invaded by the MST in May 2002 and there were about 200 MST families
living there at the time of the attack. 
According to the Brazilian newspaper Agência Folha, police said 13 of the
members of the MST movement were injured and five died. Four of them are still
hospitalized. Two of them, Joaquim Batista da Silva and his son (a 12-year-old
child), are in the Felisburgo Municipal Hospital. The other two, Valdemar
Barbosa Lima and José Maroto Lima, are in the Santa Rosária Hospital in
Teófilo Otoni city.
According to MST camp leaders the gunfighters set fire to MST tents and started
shooting. 
The police are investigating the case. The Workers
Party (PT) has demanded the gunfighters' arrest and punishment.
The MST is an ideologically diverse movement of
agricultural workers in Brazil officially founded in 1984. MST is for the equitable redistribution of Brazilian farmland.  According to MST, in
2003 there were about 632 MST camps in Brazil. MST is a large organization with many bases throughout
Brazilian cities. Their most visible tactic has been the occupation of mostly
privately-held plantations and landholdings, sometimes armed with carving knifes
and scythes.  
Currently, MST receives help from the Brazilian government and donations from
international organizations. The movement also receives funds by selling
videos of their invasions.
Overall, a recent report on labor standards in Brazil has shown that conditions
for laborers are poor
[1].

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Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST) attacked in Minas Gerais