Brazilian Governor Moves to Expropriate Land From Syngenta

[nosmokes]

If only the US had leaders that showed this much courage and integrity to stand up to the big money interests... -nosmokes
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original::Znet

Brazilian Governor Moves to Expropriate Land From Agribusiness Multinational Syngenta

by Isabella Kenfield

December 08, 2006


Curitiba, Brazil - On November 9th Roberto Requião, Governor of the state of Paraná, dealt a blow to agribusiness when he signed a decree to expropriate the experimental test site owned by the Swiss multinational corporation Syngenta, located in Santa Tereza do Oeste. The decree was made in the public interest because Syngenta illegally planted 12 hectares of genetically-modified (GM) soybeans at the site. The decree is unprecedented in Brazil and Latin America (indeed, the world), as never before has any state or the federal government moved to expropriate land from an agribusiness multinational corporation. The action is representative of the growing sentiment among Latin American politicians to resist the increasing power of agribusiness corporations, and is evidence of the increasing organization and power of civil society in the region.



Requião's decision to expropriate the 127-hectare site is undoubtedly the result of pressure from civil society. The decree to expropriate the site came after an eight-month, non-violent occupation of the site by members of the rural social movements the Via Campesina and the Movement of the Landless Rural Workers (MST), which occupied the site on March 14th after the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Natural Resources (IBAMA), the federal environmental agency, confirmed that Syngenta had illegally planted GM soybeans there. While GM soy is legal in Brazil, Syngenta's planting was illegal because the experimental site is located within the protective boundary zone of the Iguaçu National Park, which was declared the Patrimony of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 1986. The occupation stopped all of Syngenta's activities at the site, and according to statements made by Syngenta to the press, cost the corporation more than US $50 million. The occupation also pressured IBAMA to fine the corporation US $465,000 - a fine Syngenta still has not paid. Throughout the occupation and since Requião's decree, Syngenta has denied any criminal activity.



"This is really a historic moment in the global struggle against transgenics, and it is proof that the social movements can control the actions of transnationals," says Maria Rita Reis, an attorney for Terra de Direitos, a human rights organization in Curitiba representing the legal proceedings against Syngenta.



According to Roberto Baggio, state leader of the Via Campesina and the MST, "The conquest of Syngenta was only possible through a large alliance of the rural social movements…in alliance with a firm and courageous position of Governor Requião, in the defense of a diversified, national agriculture that preserves biodiversity. This action is a referential international mark in the struggle against the powerful interests of the agribusiness transnationals that want to dominate global agriculture and impose their project, but here in Paraná there are strong signals of popular resistance, which should stimulate militancy to combat the transnationals all over the planet."
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