Quilombola communities in the Brazilian state of Pará, descendants of enslaved Africans, fear their struggle with palm oil biofuel companies over land will become harder after Brazil's presidential run-off, The Guardian reports.
Residents near the Acará River say companies backed by government subsidies have fenced off traditional territory, cut families off from cemeteries and polluted waterways, and that activists who resisted were jailed or killed. Tensions grew after Brasil BioFuels took over a large operation in 2020; two of its executives were later charged with torture over the breaking up of a protest in 2021, a case still pending.
In 2022 the community blockaded the company's entrance and has since held the land, reforesting it and building homes and schools. Many members told the paper a victory for Flávio Bolsonaro would make formal recognition of their land rights impossible.
Source: The Guardian
