“We are at war,
The side there has already decreed,
Because you already paid gunman
To kill a farmer ”
(Luiz Vila Nova, The Risk)
In the late 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, a grileiros consortium closely linked to the military set up on the border of Pará with Maranhão a 5 letters based on sesmarias. With the support of the “authorities” the documents of five farms, allegedly belonging to a Canadian group that owed them, whose areas initially added 54,000 hectares, were transformed “alchemically” into 387 thousand hectares of land! The scandalous case of grabbing occurred in Viseu, northeastern region of Pará. The notary maneuver was followed by a major conflict, to this day known in the region as “War of Cidipar”, as all these lands belonged to more than 40 thousand squatters, farmers and Garimpeiros, scattered by 36 villages, who had their source of subsistence. Against the military offensive launched by the landowners to effect the land grabbing, the Gurupi River Valley peasants opted a harsh resistance.
With a paramilitary group of 102 gunmen, armed with rifles, helicopters and the most modern war arsenal at the time, at the behest of Captain James Vita Lopes, the consortium of companies Propara, Jehosapar, Denasa, among others, started to expel and Assassination the peasants in the area of the “Citipar” Gleba from fraudulent documents in total connivance with the Pará State Government and the military who ruled Brazil at the time.
The first peasant murdered in this war against the people was Sebastião Mearim, from the village Alegre. From this murder the men of the village gathered to discuss their defense. Hence, from this group, there is still little known figure outside the region, but undoubtedly stands out among the great peasant leaders of our country: Quintino Lira, the Quintino Gatilheiro, “Basty Goat Matador”, like him Even he said and proved. The nickname of "trigger" was in direct opposition to the gunmen, because according to him, gunslinger was the one who killed in the name of the land will lands and trigger was the one who killed for the people. Under Quintino's command, the peasants organized a self -defense of more than 50 regular men, reaching 200 at times. Deep connoisseurs of the woods, the peasants responded with war of guerrillas to reactionary war. And during his struggle it is estimated that more than 50 gunmen and land grabbers were justice.
The fighting were mostly waged in the woods, where the peasants were able to change the correlation of the forces of the powerful weapons of the land grabbing, ambushing them in smaller numbers, beating them when they ran and hiding when they were majority. In combat, only 3 peasants were murdered, while on the side there, as already said, more than 50. The ammunition, either conquered in combat or provided by the people. Food also came from the work of the peasant people.
Defeated by the people, the consortium then appeals to the repressive apparatus of the old state using the dread of the military to the organized people: 300 military police sent by the then governor, Jader Barbalho, go to the battlefield to "pacify" the region, ie ensuring the "rights" of the land grabbers. Now with the support of Brasilia and the State Government, the PM and the gunmen challenge a brutal repression of the peasants and their main leadership, Quintino Gatilheiro. Dozens are tortured, several murdered, women are raped, and all kinds of war crime is committed. In one of the repressive operations of which Quintino can escape, the PM kills his wife and companion, Antonia.
Despite the escalation of violence, the peasant self -defense remains active, demonstrating with wide popular support even after the hunt against the “bad guy”. A remarkable example of this occurs when Quintino incursions with his men at the headquarters of the municipality of Viseu and is received with a party by the population. The repercussion of the case at national level mobilizes the democratic field in favor of squatters, led by the active support of the lawyer and communist deputy Paulo Fonteles. Popular demonstrations in defense of the Posses occur in the cities of Belém and Viseu.
After being hunted for months by the Pará State Military Police and gunmen, Quintino is killed by rifle shots on January 4, 1985 (news reports about 70 police officers involved in the ambush). But the struggle did not stop, Quintino immediately passed from man to myth. The peasants said he turned into a dog and soon appeared to attack the tormentors! The gunmen and police, with fear, killed all the dogs they saw nearby. The people continued resisting and increasingly public opinion became favorable to the fight, forcing the government of José Sarney and the then already minister of agrarian reform Jader Barbalho, to expropriate the lands in favor of squatters!
A year after Quintino's death is published Decree No. 92,623 that began the expropriation of the entire area, including the minister's own family farms. Since then, to this day, amid continuous pressure from land grabbing on the lands of the Amazon, throughout the Gurupi region, Quintino follows alive in the minds and hearts of peasants that resist the landlord. The “naughty goat killer” trigger continues to fight beyond death!