wfn.org | Team to visit Brazil

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                   WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

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PRESS RELEASE			FOR IMMEDIATE USE		9 July 1996

         INTERNATIONAL TEAM TO VISIT SITE OF BRAZILIAN
                       PEASANT MASSACRE

Following a "vehement appeal" by Brazilian church and human
rights groups, the World Council of Churches (WCC) has convened
an international team to visit the place where military police
massacred nineteen landless peasants earlier this year.

The massacre happened on April 17, 1996 during a demonstration
for land reform led by the Landless Peasant Movement (MST) in the
town of Eldorado do Caraja, in the State of Para.  Another 50
people, including women and children, were also seriously injured
in the incident.

Subsequently, the WCC wrote to President Fernando Henrique
Cardoso urging that those responsible be identified and tried.

The killed and injured came from one of a number of small,
'illegal', makeshift settlements on a large privately-owned farm
within the Amazonian rain forest.  Health conditions are very
poor and communications difficult.  The final approach to the
settlement requires a three-hour walk through the forest, which
the international team will make.

April's massacre is, sadly, not unique.  Those who have called
for the forthcoming visit believe the tragedy must be used to
increase worldwide concern for the continuing human rights abuses
and killings meted out to Brazil's landless.

The international team aims to:

	express the concern of the worldwide ecumenical family for
those whose relatives and friends died in the massacre and those
who were injured;
	obtain first hand information on the current situation of
landless families;
	express support for the struggle for land reform;
	call for an end to the impunity enjoyed by those who have
committed crimes in rural areas over many years.

The team visit will take place 16-19 July (17 July marks the
three-month anniversary of the massacre).  A representative of
the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) from Argentina will
join five other team members from Europe.

The visit will be coordinated by the Brazilian ecumenical agency
CESE (Ecumenical Coordination of Services).

Afterwards, two team members* will go on to meet landless
peasants in Sao Luiz, the capital of the neighbouring state of
Maranao, where another massacre occurred on June 11, leaving four
dead and three wounded.

Team members are:

^From Europe:

	Dr Angelika K?ster-Lossack: Germany.  Member of Parliament
(Green Party).

	Father Osmar Gogolok*: Germany.  Head of Institute for
Brazilian Affairs.

	Pastor Anders Lindow: Church of Sweden.

	Rev. Beat Dietschy: Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches
and Swiss Interchurch Aid (HEKS/EPER).

	Mr Andr? Jacques*: France.  WCC representative.  President
of the International Service on Human Rights, Geneva.

^From Latin America:

	Ms Ana Maria Velilla, member of CLAI Board of Directors.

Contacts:	Andr? Jacques,  Phone: +33.50.40.91.09

		Enilson Rocha Silva (General Director, CESE),
		Phone +55.71.336.54.57

                                                                      

The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now
330, in more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually
all Christian traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a
member church but works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest
governing body is the Assembly, which meets approximately every
seven years.  The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.