In the week when several Brazilian states are mobilizing for the National Day of Struggle of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST, in Portuguese) – held around Rural Workers’ Day, celebrated on July 25 – representatives of the movement met with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party) on Wednesday (23) in Brasília.
According to the MST, the agenda presented to the president included the creation and structuring of new settlements; access to credit and public policies aimed at healthy food production; as well as housing, education, and infrastructure for rural families.
“In addition to negotiations in the states, we are holding a round of talks with various ministers and, today, with President Lula. Beyond agrarian reform, we are also discussing issues related to the current Brazilian situation, particularly the confrontation that Brazil will face with the U.S. in the coming period,” said the movement’s national leader, João Paulo Rodrigues. The settler also pointed out that the group had received from the president “a commitment to address part of the list of demands.”
In addition to Lula, the chief minister of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations, Gleisi Hoffmann (Workers’ Party), also participated in the meeting.
