A Comissão Pastoral da Terra Roraima: lançando sementes e caminhando junto – 1976-2018

Abstract

The Pastoral Land Commission (“Comissão Pastoral da Terra” or CPT) started to operate in Roraima in 1976, mostly comprised of priests who exerted their functions at the Amazonas state; being influenced by the “Teologia da Libertação” (Liberation Theology) – these religious men took sides with the migrant families that arrived in Roraima via its main road access – the “BR 174”, which connects Manaus to Boa Vista. The present thesis aims at investigating and analysing the presence of the CPT in Roraima – in the extreme Northern region of the Brazilian Amazon – during the period 1976 to 2018. The research exposes and analyses the operation of the CPT over the Roraima state, its role in the formation of peasant militant forces and its effort and support in the creation of rural social movements as well as the rural union movement during the Comission’s most fertile period – from 1976 to 2006 – and during a second period – from 2007 to 2018 – in which, due to financial difficulties and a visible reduction in the number of pastoral agents, it significantly reduced its role as a formative and articulating force in the political field. However, the CPT remains a constant and renowned force, either among the union movement or among the families of old and new migrants. The methodological approach applied in this thesis was the qualitative, using the files from both the Amazonas Regional Office and the Roraima Regional Office, general interviews, local printed papers, CPT bulletins, photographs, as well as my personal experience as a collaborator to the CPT.