Brazil’s quilombola communities regain control of palm-oil land
The Guardian reports that about 2,300 residents have gained practical control, not formal title, over nearly 32,400 hectares and built homes and schools there.
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The Guardian reports that about 2,300 residents have gained practical control, not formal title, over nearly 32,400 hectares and built homes and schools there.
About 2,300 quilombola residents in Acará, in Brazil’s northern state of Pará, have gained practical control of nearly 32,400 hectares formerly cultivated by Brasil BioFuels (BBF), according to a Guardian feature published on 22 October. Residents have built schools, community centres and hundreds of homes, but are still awaiting formal property titles.
Quilombolas are descendants of Black people formerly enslaved on Brazil’s plantations. Communities in the region have long accused palm-oil companies of pushing them off traditional land. The Guardian reports that tensions increased after BBF took over a large local operation in 2020 and installed fences, gates and watchtowers guarded by private security staff.
On 24 February 2022, community leader Josias Dias dos Santos and other residents padlocked BBF’s entrance and refused to move. They said the land behind the gate belonged to them and barred the company from harvesting palm fruit there. BBF representatives accused them of making threats, which the residents denied.
The community expanded its checkpoints as the blockade continued, using income from palm-fruit sales to build infrastructure. Behind their own gates, residents also began reforesting land previously used for palm-oil monoculture—the cultivation of a single crop over large areas—and restoring biodiversity, the Guardian reports.
The Guardian reports that courts have refused to enforce most of BBF’s land claims and that a government body has recognised the quilombolas’ valid right to much of the reclaimed land. Those decisions have not yet produced formal property titles for the community.
In a 2024 interview, BBF chief executive Milton Steagall denied that the company had stolen land. He said BBF had acquired another palm-oil company that had operated in the area for more than a decade. BBF’s lawyers told the Guardian that he maintained that position.
The lawyers said each property’s location, boundaries and legal status required individual examination. BBF said it respected community rights and that accusations concerning particular areas should not be treated as established facts without verification.
Dias dos Santos says residents continue to repel violent eviction attempts and that he fears for his life. Securing formal property titles remains the community’s unfinished task, even while residents control and rebuild the land.
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