Bolsonaro is accused of handing out land titles without registry; ‘electioneering measure’, according to experts

Iury Lima – Cenarium Magazine

VILHENA (RO) – The President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro (PL), is being accused of delivering definitive titles of land regularization without registry office. ‘An electioneering measure’, in the evaluation of specialists heard by CENARIUM.

Last Monday, April 4, the federal government and the Rio de Janeiro city hall signed an agreement that aims to regularize, initially and at no cost for the families, 20% of the houses in Complexo da Maré, a group of 17 favelas in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, with about 140 thousand residents. The action foresees the delivery of property titles after the identification of the families, with incomes of up to five minimum wages, and addresses suitable for legalization.

Similar events also took place in Mato Grosso do Sul and in the Federal District, but it was on March 18, in Rio Branco, capital of Acre, where Bolsonaro handed out 500 titles that do not guarantee the ownership of rural lots to families settled on and residents of federal lands, according to a report on the portal Notícias da Hora.

‘Electioneering measure’

“If it is something so positive, why wasn’t there an anticipation? Why leave it for the last year, for the six months before the election? There, I see, in a way, an electioneering measure (…) By granting the title without registry, there are two possibilities: either you will burden the one who is receiving, because he will have to pay, or, you will generate, at least, an insecurity, because the beneficiary will not be able to have a series of benefits”, explained the political scientist Helso Ribeiro.

It is the Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra), the agency that offers already regularized titles to low-income populations. The lack of this regularity makes it impossible for the new owner to get, for example, bank loans, since he is not recognized as the true owner.

“This lack of adequate regularization demonstrates the disdain that the government and its agencies continue to have with the lives of the people in the countryside. It can be considered an electioneering measure, since, if this is not duly regularized, families will continue to be denied the right to access credit lines, which, we agree, is still the best way to stay on the land,” said professor and researcher at the Federal University of Rondônia (Unir) and adviser to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT/RO), Amanda Michalski.

What Incra says

According to the institute, responsible for issuing the documents, the titles delivered in the state of Acre, by Bolsonaro, “have full legal validity and were not previously registered by Incra, in a notary’s office, since they were signed by the families after the event and, exceptionally, the institute authorized the families to register directly in the notary’s office”, i.e., burdening those who should be benefited with the regularization for free.

Also according to INCRA, “the interested parties were instructed at the time of delivery, in Rio Branco, about the need to register the title in a notary’s office”, added in response.

With an eye on votes, Bolsonaro goes back

For Ribeiro, Bolsonaro went back and did, precisely, what he condemned, thinking about reelection. “I remember that in the presidential campaign four years ago, President Bolsonaro even criticized ‘leftist attitudes’. Among them, this concession,” he said.

“The rural worker, the urban worker, they need land for themselves. They need housing. If you look, the housing deficit is huge and the deficit of land workers’ settlements is even bigger. We are just left thinking: why didn’t this happen before and with more intensity, right?

See more details in the report made in partnership between Cenarium and TV Cultura