Syngenta Pollutes, Persecutes and Murders
Peasants in
In October of 2007,
Valmir Mota, a member of La
Via Campesina
Syngenta has and illegal
GMO testing field in Santa Tereza do Oeste, near
In March 2006, La Vía Campesina occupied the plot
of land to expose the illegal activity of the Swiss corporation and to demand
the payment of the fine. After 16 months the families of La Via
Campesina left the land and with it 40 hectares
planted with organic food and native trees. In October of 2007, Syngenta announced it would resume the GM tests in its
tract of land in Santa Tereza do Oeste.
Subsequently, La Via Campesina
peacefully occupied the tract once again, which seems to have been reason
enough for the company to wage an armed assault against the peasants, ending in
the murder of Valmir Mota.
La Vía Campesina
Besides Mota's murder, the company is also responsible for
intoxication with Paraquat or Gramoxone
(an agrotoxic manufactured by Syngenta),
which according to the World Health Organization is the most toxic agrochemical
produced nowadays. It was banned in
Syngenta is one of the
world's largest transnational corporations devoted to
agribuiness. It is well-known for its production of
agrochemicals and GM seeds. The company makes a yearly profit of 800 million US
dollars from selling agrotoxics and GMO in
Syngenta has violated the
country's Federal Constitution, the environmental laws, the UN Convention on
Biological Diversity, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights and other national and international laws.
The Brazilian
justice system has not held Syngenta accountable for
the murder of Valmir Mota. Quite
on the contrary: it convicted two peasants, identifying them as members of the
peasant movement. This actions show the justice system acted to secure the
privileges and immunity of the transnational
corporation by criminalizing the peasants and violating their rights. For this
reason, the case is filed before the PPT.
Key issues: Criminalisation of
resistance and use of violence
Denouncing
organizations: Terra de Direitos y Via Campesina
(Brasil).