COLONIZATION AND CONFLICTS IN TRANSAMAZONICS IN TIMES OF THE BRAZILIAN CIVIL-MILITARY DICTATORSHIP

Abstract

This study analyzes the Transamazônica Highway colonization and land conflicts in southeast of Pará during the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship. For such, it was established the process of implementation of the Programa Integrado de Colonização Marabá performed in the government of Emílio Garrastazu Médici as a guide. This Program was implemented next to Transamazônica in the municipalities of Itupiranga and São João do Araguaia. In the last municipality mentioned, the project in focus was accomplished when the military sought to repress the guerrilla movement led by activists of the Communist Party of Brazil at the confluence of the Araguaia and Tocantins rivers. There, not only many rural workers were arrested and tortured, but also required to be Army guides to hunt guerrillas. Since 1974, many families who had come from various parts of Brazil attracted by colonization, came to occupy a series of unproductive lands with definitive titles or aforamentos, starting with those who lined the highway, causing intense and prolonged conflict with farmers who were owners of these properties, because the families did not find support from INCRA.

Keywords

• Colonization in Transamazônica Highway
• Repression
• Land conflicts