Pinheirinho - Brazilian human rights trampled

All of Brazil watched as the drama played out in the small city of São José dos Campos, São Paulo on Sunday, January 22, 2012. If like me, you are trying to understand the convoluted story behind the “Massacre at Pinheirinho” as it is now known – forget it! The story just becomes more bizarre and infuriating the more that I delve into it. It serves only to prove that you can get away with almost anything here in Brazil if you have money and connections.

Thousands of poor Brazilian families were forcefully driven off the land that they had peacefully occupied since 2004 and the homes that they had built were bulldozed into rubble along with all of their worldly belongings. They had to leave with only the clothes on their backs and were not given the opportunity to remove their belongings and furniture. On orders from São Paulo Governor, Geraldo Alckmin, Shock Troops of the Military Police moved in and the result was quite reminiscent of any newsreel footage that I have ever seen about the Nazi occupation of Poland during WWII. Unofficial reports exist that there were anywhere from 5 to 7 people killed during the confrontation that ensued. The government, hospitals and the Medical Examiner’s Office (IML – Instituto Médico Legal) are all mysteriously silent on this subject.

Was the “dis-occupation” of Pinheirinho legal? Perhaps it may have been, but even that is doubtful. Was it moral? Clearly it was not. It was probably the greatest violation of human rights in recent Brazilian history and many laws were broken in the process, a fact that few in government seem to care about.

So let’s look a bit deeper. How did these people come to be living in this area? Who owns the property? What is the history behind the situation?

Pinheirinho is a tract of land which measures about 1.3 million square meters (3 times larger than the Vatican) and approximately 6,000 people live there. It is a neighborhood that has houses, churches, what passes for parks. It was occupied over time because it was abandoned since 2004. The inhabitants are poor, but predominantly working people, not criminals and drug traffickers as the city and state government contends. The present value of the tract of land is put around R$180 million (I believe very under-evaluated).

The original owners of the land were the Kubitzky family, four elderly brothers and sisters reportedly of German origin. Paul Kubitzky 76, Arthur 74, Erma 72 and Frida Elsa 68 were all brutally murdered on July 1, 1969. The murders were most likely motivated by the value of the properties they held and remain unsolved to this day, mostly due to the fact that those in power at the time did not like them. None of them were married and apparently there were no heirs, at least here in Brazil. How their estate passed to the State of São Paulo is unclear and nobody can explain how it became property of the State or how it changed hands from there.

The present so-called “rightful owner” is the now bankrupt Selecta S/A which is owned by Naji Nahas. Nahas, the cigar puffing Lebanese entrepreneur who came to Brazil in the 70s with lots of money to invest and from the beginning rubbed elbows with the high and mighty and top ranking politicians. This is the very same Naji Nahas who most claim was responsible for the collapse of the Rio stock market in 1989 and who was arrested by the Federal Police during an investigation called “Operação Satiagraha” in connection a corruption, money laundering and influence peddling scheme. How Nahas could purchase land from the government (that had dubious title) I cannot understand no matter how hard I try.

The simple fact remains that even if Selecta S/A is the rightful owner of the property the only unsatisfied creditor remaining following the bankruptcy is none other than the City of São José dos Campos. They are indebted to the city for unpaid property taxes (IPTU) of over R$10 million. By law the property should have been expropriated by the city years ago and turned over to the federal government for social housing, but it was not. Why? Because the mayor is one of Nahas’ cronies, as are both the Governor and Senator of São Paulo. This is also the same mayor who from the outset has actively discriminated against and imposed programs which worked to the detriment of and excluded the residents of Pinheirinho. They have been treated as second class citizens all along.

Expulsion by force of some 1,700 families because of such dubious ownership claims on the land stretches the very definition of being “legal” to almost the breaking point. It was without any doubt immoral and unjust in the extreme. The destruction of homes with all the personal possessions of those who lived there, still inside, was clearly a criminal act that should not be excused. Shameful how the poor Brazilians keep getting it in the neck!

In the end, it's the same old thing... it's all about the rich getting richer and the poor getting screwed.