Two savage attacks in April left nine peasant squatters dead and 22 encamped Indians injured, rekindling concern about land conflicts that for decades have elevated murder rates in rural areas of Brazil. Meanwhile, a third confrontation, this one in May between military police and peasants who were occupying public land, ended in the deaths of 10 squatters. In the first attack, on April 19 near the town of Colniza in the western Amazon state of Mato Grosso, a group of hooded men armed with rifles and machetes and likely hired by local landowners, attacked peasants occupying public land. They killed nine unarmed adult men ranging in age from 23 to 57, according to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), a rural-workers rights group linked to... [Log in to read more]