“Posseiro bom é posseiro morto”: coronel Georgino e o conflito agrário de Cachoeirinha no Norte de Minas Gerais

Abstract

Part of the title of this research comes from a cartoon, in which a colonel appears saying that Indians and squatters are only good if killed. The general objective is to analyze how the actions of this military man, called Georgino Jorge de Souza, during the Brazilian military dictatorship, help us to understanding of the dynamics of land disputes and violence perpetrated against squatters in the north of Minas Gerais, specifically in Cachoeirinha. To achieve this objective, the methodology is based on a historical approach and a literature review review of the literature on the actions of this individual during Brazil's dictatorship, in the case of Cachoeirinha, where Cachoeirinha, where there were territorial disputes. In the first chapter, shows that during the military dictatorship in Brazil, the country was impacted with the idea of making the cake grow and then dividing it. With a focus on economic growth and industrialization, social development was neglected and inequalities became worse. Centralized power in the hands of the military promoted modernization that generated rural exodus, land concentration, increased urban poverty, land speculation, and inequality in the North of Minas Gerais. The SUDENE’s creation transformed the region and Montes Claros. This city functioned as a central place, from where decisions were spread to and affected smaller cities around this pole. Urban modernization under Mayor Antônio Lafetá Rebello is an example of changes during the dictatorship. Chapter two indicates that, in the countryside and in the city, during the military dictatorship, there was an increase in repression and violence, as shown by data from the Truth Commission in Minas Gerais. In this regime, initiated by the military coup of 1964, violence, arrests, tortures, and executions were used to repress peasants and ideas of agrarian reform. Public agents, such as military police, besides farmers, land grabbers, and gunmen, acted against peasants. The spirit of development that took place in the North of Minas ended up primarily benefiting determined persons, to the detriment of squatters. During the dictatorship, a colonel, representing the interests of some groups, called Georgino, linked to the military police, was one of the individuals who became known for violently persecuting and repressing squatters in Cachoeirinha, Minas Gerais, during the Brazilian military dictatorship, a subject that is addressed in chapter three. He is credited with being responsible for evictions that took place there in the region, which benefited farmers, of which he was one. To analyze this story, the concept of virtuous violence, according to Alan Page Fisk, is used. Big farmers used the press to delegitimize peasants and adopted other strategies, all to divert the focus from ideas of agrarian reform and expand their power and influence in the region.