Para´s Federal Public Ministry accused Santa Barbara for the illegal felling of 51 thousand hectares of Amazon forest for cattle production, according to an investigation by Repórter Brasil.

Nine fields which belonged to the company were seized after public citizen actions.

Daniel César Avelino, one of the officers in charge of the investigation told Reporter Brasil that “the regions under Santa Barbara´s operations are facing excessive deforestation”.

Tree felling in the northern area of the country has caused the concern of the authorities, who are trying to implement measures so that meat processing plants and supermarkets commit themselves not to buy meat from fields were there used to be native forests, as in the case of Dantas properties.

The accusations against the multifaceted businessman, who was sentenced to 10 years in July, 2008, appear to continue.

This week, the Brazilian media reported on a recent accusation by Sao Paulo Public Ministry of money laundering, fraud, tax evasion, and other ten financial crimes.

The Ministry could determine through this investigation how the Opportunity Group, owned by Dantas, was involved in the corruption scheme of electoral campaign funding, known as “mensalão”, one of the greatest political scandals the Workers Party had to face.

In April, 2009, Dantas also made it to the news. Santa Barbara´s gunmen injured nine members of the Landless Rural Workers Movement, who had been participating in a mobilization in El Dorado dos Carajás.

Also in El Dorado, but in 1996, a massacre of 19 landless workers took place, who are commemorated every April 17th in the International Day of Peasant Struggle.

Despite all the efforts by the organizations to put an end to the violence in the countryside, the attacks against rural workers continue.

The MST stated this week that five workers were murdered and another was injured in Pernambuco state, to the North-East of the country.