Quilombolas claim ownership of an old farm in São Paulo – 10/18/2023 – São Paulo

2023-10-18 16:14:00

The Carmo neighborhood, in the rural area of ​​São Roque (SP), is made up mainly of people of African descent. 52 families from a quilombola community live there.

For 17 years, they have been claiming before INCRA (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform) the possession of an area of ​​an old farm that existed in the place.

This farm belonged to the Carmelite Fluminense Province, a religious institution that arrived in Brazil in 1580.

Antônio da Cruz, 72, grandson of an enslaved man who worked on the property, says that in 1866, to pay off debts, the religious order leased its slaves to work for 20 years in the coffee fields of the Paraíba Valley .

“The sisters made an agreement with the slaves so that after 20 years they would return and settle on the farm in São Roque, where they could farm for their own benefit,” he says.

However, the quilombola descendants, due to urban expansion and real estate speculation, were losing much of the original area to illegal usurpers.

In 2017, as a way to pressure Incra, they occupied six alqueires, which represents less than 1% of the original land.

Translated by AZAHARA MARTÍN ORTEGA

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