After the murder of peasant leader Adeildo Gonçalves Calheiro, known as “Flecha,” a wave of defamation and a smearing campaign were unleashed by Brazilian bourgeois media, reported the revolutionary newspaper A Nova Democracia. Bourgeois media outlets in Rondônia published reports accusing the League of Poor Peasants (LCP) of criminal activity, a move aimed at discrediting the rural land struggle.
Comrade “Flecha”, 43, was murdered on the morning of January 23 in the Pari settlement, in Alto Paraguai, Mato Grosso. According to initial reports, the operation was carried out by the Special Operations Battalion (BOPE) of the Mato Grosso Military Police, with cooperation from security forces in Rondônia. Comrade “Flecha” was a long-time supporter of the LCP and was present during its various actions, reported A Nova Democracia.
The National Commission of LCP questions the official police account. In a statement, the comrades said they found it unusual that the case was first reported in Rondônia, despite the operation taking place in Mato Grosso.
Websites including Expressão de Rondônia and Inforondônia described the LCP as a violent and highly organized group, citing alleged past seizures of weapons and equipment. The LCP said these claims repeat long-standing narratives used to criminalize peasant organizing and land occupations.
The organization argued that such coverage ignores violence linked to large landowners. The LCP pointed to Operation Amicus Regem, launched by federal authorities in 2020, which dismantled a paramilitary network allegedly tied to landowners and public officials accused of using armed intimidation to control rural areas. “In this context of attack, peasants have resorted to armed self-defense, which according to the LCP ‘is a sacred right of the masses’ and not terrorism,” summarized A Nova Democracia.
In a statement, the LCP rejected claims that Flecha was involved in criminal activity and described him as a veteran rural leader who helped organize multiple settlements. The group said the accusations against him are part of a broader effort to stigmatize peasant movements and justified his role as part of what it calls the struggle for land and agrarian reform.
The LCP vehemently denounced the vile and lowly attacks by the bourgeois media to dress up this murder. “Comrade ‘Flecha’ is not and never was a bandit,” declared the comrades, “He is an outstanding and beloved peasant leader, committed to the last drop of blood to the Agrarian Revolution, who took part in the struggles in the Lamarca I and Lamarca II areas; he joined the movement taking on all necessary tasks, having contributed so that the masses conquered their long-dreamed-of and sacred land in Santa Elina, Gonçalo I and Gonçalo II, Raio de Sol, Canaã, Renato Nathan 2, and Valdiro Chagas. Brave, he also raised the glorious name of Gedeon in the region of Machadinho D’Oeste.”
In conclusion, the LCP said Flecha’s death would strengthen its resolve and paid tribute to his role in rural organizing and land-rights campaigns.
The assassination of Flecha serves as the latest episode of Brazilian State violence against revolutionaries and peasant leaders. In recent years, many members and supporters of the LCP have been murdered by the landlords and the Old State for the only crime of struggling for land. Another important martyr is Renato Nathan, a leader of the LCP assassinated in 2012.
Despite these losses, Brazilian peasants have persisted on the path of agrarian revolution and continue to win new advances in the fire of class struggle. It is the duty of US revolutionaries to give them unconditional support, learning from their shining examples to guide and elevate struggles against US imperialism here in the belly of the beast.
