Solidarity with D Pedro Casaldáliga

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The International Movement We are Church (IMWAC) expresses its deep concern over the death threats against Dom Pedro Casaldáliga, bishop emeritus of the Prelature of Sao Felix Araguaia, Brazil and his pastoral staff. Dom Pedro and the Prelacy have always supported the struggle of the Xavante people of the state of Mato Grosso for the restitution of their land. At the moment when they receive back from the government their land where many small squatters have moved in, sectors with obvious interests created an atmosphere of violence in which the squatters remain small pawns in the hands of large farmers and politicians. In this environment the right of the Indigenous people has to be asserted, even with the help of the police and the army. This environment of violence is directed against the Xavante people, but also against Dom Pedro and the Pastoral Team. Although Don Pedro and the Prelacy have always affirmed that all, including the squatters, have the right to agrarian reform and the land, we would like to express our solidarity with Dom Pedro and denounce this lie, coming from those who are trying to evade their responsibility in this situation of suffering, tension and violent threats that they themselves have created, shifting this responsibility onto the shoulders of Pedro Casaldáliga, this great bishop, poet and upholder of Human Rights.