The Eldorado dos Carajás massacre was the killing of nineteen landless farmers who were demonstrating for the disappropriation of an unproductive ranch. They were shot by military police on April 17, 1996, in southern Pará state, Brazil.
On April 17, 1996, 19 members of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Landless Workers Movement) or MST were shot by Pará state military police at the "S" curve of highway PA-150 in Eldorado dos Carajás municipality, in southern Pará state. These people were part of a demonstration calling for the federal appropriation of an unproductive ranch where the MST had mounted a camp called "Macaxeira" with almost 3000 families.
On the orders of the state secretary of public security, Paulo Sette Câmara, the police were ordered to clear the highway "at any cost"[1]
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The Portuguese word massacre has been used repeatedly and consistently in the Brazilian press to describe the shooting deaths of these farmers. There are well over 100 Brazilian news internet sites which use the exact phrase "massacre de Eldorado de Carajás" to designate these killings.
The President of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, Arlindo Chinaglia, gave a speech to remember the horror of the "Massacre de Eldorado de Carajás" in Brasilia on 17 April 2008, to mark the 12th year after the massacre. See: "Chinaglia afirma que Massacre de Eldorado dos Carajás é o maior contra trabalhadores brasileiros".