Experiências forjadas a ferro e fogo: religiosidade, organicidade e luta pela terra no extremo sul da bahia no contexto da ditadura civil-militar (1978-1985)

Abstract

The struggles for land tenure in the extreme south of Bahia occurred in a scenario of transformations of the agrarian structure throughout Brazil, which led to the emergence of conflicts in the countryside. These confrontations, in turn, in cases like the one of this baiana region had the interference of the Catholic Church, who acted in the organization of rural workers, settlers, small proprietors and fishermen, so that they could deal with the ongoing capitalist offensive. Moreover, the actions of the clergy extrapolated the actions of an organizational, character enabling their direct involvement in conflicts, which resulted in threats from ranchers to a priest and bomb attacks on a church, in vigilance of the activities of the Diocese of Caravelas by the National Information Service (NIS), as well as the targeting of violence to rural populations in the region, with beatings, torture and arbitrary arrests, but also with confrontations by rural workers, settlers, smallholders, in different spheres of social and political life and with the constant support of the bishop of the Diocese of Caravelas, dom Filipe Tiago Broers and some religious like frei Elias Hooij and priest José Koopmans