Statement by the LCP on the Execution of one of their Leaders, Comrade Flecha
We hereby share an unofficial translation of a summarization by A Nova Democracia on the statement by the League of the Poor Peasants on the murder of the leader Adeildo Gonçalves Calheiro, executed on January 23.
The National Commission of the League of the Poor Peasants (LCP) issued a statement on January 31, condemning the summary execution of the peasant leader, Adeildo Gonçalves Calheiro [comrade “Flecha” (Arrow)], and the attempt to eliminate the peasant struggle in Western Amazonia.
Contrary to the police version, which claimed that the peasant leader had attempted to flee, the LCP denounced an eight-hour delay between the incident and its public disclosure, which, according to the peasants, was used to “concoct” a story that would justify the shooting. The movement alleges that the command of the Special Operations Battalion Police (BOPE) used unmarked vehicles and that the execution was planned. In the statement, the LCP denounces that the military shouted at “Flecha”: “this time you won’t escape,” referring to previous attempts to capture him.
The movement highlights that, for the reactionary forces, the crime was justified because they considered that by eliminating comrade Flecha, the struggle for land in the Machadinho D’Oeste region, in Rondônia, as well as the League of Poor Peasants, LCP, would be weakened. But the LCP states strongly: “A dream of hyenas! Scoundrels, you are mistaken, murderers of the poor! Comrade Flecha lives on in our invincible struggle, he, like all our heroes and heroines, lives in the glorious Red Flag of the League of Poor Peasants of all Brazil! Eternal honor and glory to Comrade Flecha! Death to the latifundium! Long live the Agrarian Revolution!”
In the statement, the peasants relate the brutal execution of the leader Adeildo to Operation “Godos” of the Public Ministry of Rondônia (MP-RO), which has imposed all sorts of repression against the peasant families of Rondônia. For the movement, “all this indicates the gravity with which the latifundium and the old Brazilian State and its managers view as decisive at this moment: to end the struggle for land and the LCP, so as to conjure the growing Agrarian Revolution.”
Furthermore, according to the LCP, the execution of “Flecha” was carried out by the BOPE of Rondônia and not of Mato Grosso. “The alleged participation of the BOPE of Mato Grosso in this crime is to provide legal cover for the criminal command of the PM of Rondônia.” It also highlights that the BOPE agents “are special police-military commands in Brazil specialized in killing the poor and blacks. In addition to serving as thugs of the latifundium in the rural regions of the country and applying the policy of social control through systematic massacres in the slums and poor neighborhoods of large cities, they are in charge of applying covert counter-insurgency operations against revolutionary movements throughout the country.”
Regarding the formal accusations attributed to the peasant leader Adeildo, the LCP declares that the “victims would be guaxebas,” that is, paramilitaries, “who were repelled by the peasant self-defense.”
Who was Adeildo Gonçalves, comrade Flecha
The LCP statement highlights that Adeildo “was indeed, with great pride, a leader of the League of Poor Peasants.”
“Comrade Flecha, still a child, lost his father, a small peasant, assassinated in a land dispute. He avenged himself as a young man by joining the movement. At first, fighting for his own land. Soon, acting in the struggle for the Agrarian Revolution, in various areas conquered by the peasant masses: Lamarca I and Lamarca II, Gonçalo I and Gonçalo II, Raio do Sol, Canaã, Renato Nathan 2 and, before leading the struggle in the Valdiro Chagas Area, he devoted all his efforts to the victorious struggle to take what remained of the Santa Elina latifundium. He was a scholar, knew the history of the struggles of our people and of the workers and peasants all over the world. He honored our sacred oath. Comrade Flecha left many followers. We will win! No matter how long it takes! All reactionaries, imperialists, the big bourgeois and big landlord classes, exploiters, oppressors and their lackeys and thugs in uniform and plain clothes will go into the dustbin of history!”, the movement declares.
“May the name of our dear comrade Flecha be raised in all areas, in universities and workers’ struggles, in the demands of our poor people, in democratic struggles and anti-imperialist struggles,” the statement declares.
“As for the murderous latifundium, its henchmen and bootlickers, do not celebrate so much! The punishment comes slow, but it comes. In a tormented world and country in which we live, the punishment can come like a lightning bolt!”, the LCP concludes.
Read the full statement below: