Representatives of several entities demanded Monday that Brazilian Pernambuco DA Francisco Sales speed-up investigations and punishment of those guilty of the assassination of two farm leaders.

The MST, landless workers' movement, regional coordinator Antonio dos Santos was buried on Sunday after dying from 14 stab wounds following achieving settlement of 45 families on an expropriated farm.

Landless Workers' Liberation Movement (MSLT) regional coordinator Anilton Martins was assassinated in Itaiba on Friday, shot ten times by four gunmen on motorbikes at a gas station.

Martins reported to the Public Ministry 15 days ago that he had been receiving death threats for over two years, but the risk was underestimated, Pernambuco's Justice and Citizenship Secretary Elias Gomez recognized on Monday.

The MST denounced that area estate owners had declared there was no space for the landless and if they won the area they claimed, they would have to accept the consequences.

(Published Prensa Latina, October 31, 2005)

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