Ravenous peasants ransack shops

Press, 16 February 1984, Page 8

Ravenous peasants ransack shops

NZPA-AP Fortaleza Thousands of starving peasants in famine-stricken north-east Brazil invaded villages and ransacked food stores this week as the ravages of a seven-year drought reached critical proportions. Peasants clashed with police in four villages in the state of Ceara, hardest hit by a drought that has affected 36 million people living in an area of

1.4 million sq km about 2700 km north of Rio de Janeiro.

At least four injuries were reported yesterday, and 30 Ceara municipalities have requested emergency aid for the victims. There were also unconfirmed reports that some mayors were threatening to abandon their villages.

In the state of Pernambuco, seven villages were invaded by workers employed by the “emergency

fronts” — 2.7 million northeast farmers hired to dig wells or build bridges at salaries of SUSI 7 a month — who have not yet been paid for January. Pernambuco’s Governor, Roberto Magalhaes, in a message to the Interior Ministry, said that aid was needed, “most urgently.” He said that only police presence and the distribution of food to the needy had prevented the sacking of seven villages.