In the late 1970s, the Brazilian military showed interest in establishing a rocket launch site in the municipality of Alcântara. At the Ministry of Aeronautics’ request, the Maranhão state government expropriated 52,000 hectares (128,494 acres) and later declared another 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of public utility in 1991. The Alcântara Launch Center (CLA) was built in the coastal area, but before its construction, 312 families were forcibly removed from their homes and relocated to seven agro-villages more than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the beach. The plots provided were smaller than the minimum rural area needed for family subsistence. The area, historically home to escaped slaves and their descendants since the 19th century, known as quilombos in Brazil, includes the Alcântara ethnic territory, one of Brazil’s most disputed Quilombola claims. The fight for land rights by Quilombola communities in Alcântara, inside the launch center perimeter, has persisted for more than 40 years. Despite their historical presence, the communities remain without formal land titles, leaving them in a state of legal limbo — a status that is likely to change soon. Alcântara also includes two other quilombos, Itamatatiua and Vila Nova, both still untitled, and the municipality is home to 15,600 Quilombolas, the third-largest population of that group in Brazil. “The quality of the soil [in the agro-villages] is poor,” a resident who preferred to remain anonymous told Mongabay. “The military did not respect our way of working collectively and placed us on separate plots. Some of the families did not…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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