Brazilian far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has fired the head of the federal agency in charge of the country’s land reform, a move critics say yields to pressure from the powerful farm lobby to push legalization of cleared land in the Amazon — and further increase deforestation in the region as it could create incentives to clear forest land.
On Oct. 1, army general João Carlos de Jesus Corrêa was discharged as the head of the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), a position he held since February of this year. While the Brazilian government did not immediately confirm the decision, Corrêa told local magazine Veja: “I’m leaving with the peace of mind of having done an excellent job with my team.”
José Líbio de Moraes Matos, an economist who according to a local report was involved in the Eldorado do Carajás massacre where 19 landless farmers were killed in 1996, was nominated INCRA’s interim head on October 2.
