From WN

While in the hospital recovering from a previous assassination attempt, Waldomiro Costa Pereira was killed by five gunmen who stormed his room in the state of Para in Brazil on Tuesday, according to BBC News.

Costa Pereira was a member of Brazil’s Workers’ Party and an activist who worked with the Landless Workers Movement (MST) who frequently protest in support of land reform in Brazil.

The MST wrote in a statement that it was “with immense sadness that we mourn his death” adding that the group stood “in solidarity with his wife, children and all his family in this moment of pain”.

MST supports laborers who are in disputes with landowners by staging protests and land invasions to guarantee better conditions for the farmers with violence often being common over land disputes in Brazil.

The Pastoral Land Commission, a non-governmental organization in Brazil, said that 61 land rights activists were killed last year, the highest number since 2003 since many security forces are rarely present when fights escalate between land owners and powerless farmers.

–WN.com, Maureen Foody

For more on this story go to: https://article.wn.com/view/2017/03/21/Brazilian_Land_Rights_Activist_Murdered_In_Hospital_After_Pr/