There are 418 families living there today, in 7 villages spread out over thousands of hectares. Apart from the red MST flags which flutter in front of most houses, it is difficult to differentiate between the villages of the camp, and those of the surrounding areas. “Look at these people” says Miguel Carter, one of the founders of MST, pointing to a group a few feet away: “when I met them they had nothing; now their children are studying medicine in Cuba!”

This was an occasion to take a look at over two decades of action, which have enabled entire families to regain their pride and to build themselves a future. Today, 400,000 families live in MST camps, and more than 400 associations and farming organizations have mobilized with MST. However, a warning has been issued: agrarian reform is far from a reality in Brazil, where 4 million families are still landless.

Thus, in a passionate speech, the leader of MST, Joao Pedro Stedilé, renewed MST’s commitment: “Getting land is still very important, but it’s not enough! We have spent years fighting owners of large estates, we believed and still believe that the latifundio (large rural estate) is the main cause of poverty and inequality in the countryside.” Faced with the reinforcement of agro-industry for land use, MST calls for an intensification of agrarian reform. This reform will be carried out by the landless, together with activists of all regions and towns of Brazil, in order to create a united front against agro-industry. This has been MST’s priority since the World Social Forum, in January 2009.