After 20-Year Conflict, Judge Orders 150 Families Who Invaded Farm to Compensate Owner in Mato Grosso

Written by Sara Aquino

Published on 08/09/2025 at 20:00

Após 20 anos de ocupação, juíza de Cuiabá converte reintegração de posse em desapropriação indireta de fazenda em Mato Grosso. Ocupantes deverão indenizar os antigos donos. Imagem: Gazeta do Povo

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After 20 Years of Occupation, Judge from Cuiabá Converts Eviction to Indirect Expropriation of Farm in Mato Grosso. Occupants Must Compensate Former Owners.

A dispute of over two decades regarding the ownership of the Nazaré Farm, in São José dos Quatro Marcos, interior of Mato Grosso, has reached a significant conclusion. Judge Adriana Sant’Anna Coningham, from the Second Specialized Court in Agrarian Law of Cuiabá, decided this week that the current occupants will not be removed from the area of 1,200 hectares, but will have to compensate the original owner, Frenchman Armando Lerco.

The decision converted the eviction request into indirect expropriation, acknowledging the social transformation of the region over the past 20 years.

The Beginning of the Dispute Over the Farm

The action was filed in 2005 by Armando Lerco, who purchased the farm in 1992.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Life Interrupted by Agrarian Conflict

According to the case, the producer employed up to 40 rural workers and maintained the farm as a “model” in the region.

However, after the invasions, the area was devastated. In 2000, amid threats and risk to his family, he left Mato Grosso and moved to Curitiba (PR), following guidance from the French Embassy.

Subsequently, the property was leased for agricultural and livestock activities, but new invasions occurred.

In 2003, about 30 people occupied the area, taking advantage of the end of the harvest.

Occupants Claimed Community Settlement

In their defense, the invaders argued that there was no violence and that the occupation turned into an established settlement.

Currently, more than 150 families live on the site, with electric power, water supply, school transportation, a health clinic, and churches.

This community structure was one of the points considered by the judge when assessing the social impact of the prolonged occupation of the farm.

Judge’s Ruling: Indirect Expropriation

Based on the evidence presented, including satellite images that showed agricultural use of the area before the invasion, the magistrate acknowledged that the owners had the right to possession.

However, she emphasized that the social and economic reality built over two decades made simple eviction unfeasible.

Thus, she applied the institution of indirect expropriation, converting the action into financial compensation.

The occupants must pay an amount, to be defined during the settlement of the case, so that they can register the property in their names.

If they do not settle the debt, they could lose the lots.

The decision by Judge Adriana Sant’Anna Coningham represents an intermediate solution in one of the longest agrarian conflicts in the state.

The owner of the farm, even if he does not regain the area, will be compensated for the time he was deprived of his rights.

On the other hand, the families currently living on the site will have the chance to remain legally, provided they comply with the payment of compensation.

Thus, the ruling balances property rights with recognition of the social relevance built over the years.

“Therefore, I rule in favor of the initial eviction request made by Armando Lerco, Chantal Marie Christine Edwige Roulaud, and the Estate of Alain Bernard Roulaud over the area of 1,224.6500 hectares, located in the municipality of São José dos Quatro Marcos, known as Fazenda Nazaré.

However, given the legal requirements, I convert the eviction request into indirect private judicial expropriation or expropriation by working possession and order all defendants and all current occupants of the area, including the Vale do Jauru Association – AVJ, Association of Rural Workers of the Irmã Dorati Settlement, and their members, to pay the just compensation to the plaintiffs,” states the decision.

After 20-Year Conflict, Judge Orders 150 Families Who Invaded Farm to Compensate Owner in Mato Grosso

After 20 Years of Occupation, Judge from Cuiabá Converts Eviction to Indirect Expropriation of Farm in Mato Grosso. Occupants Must Compensate Former Owners.

The Beginning of the Dispute Over the Farm

Life Interrupted by Agrarian Conflict

Occupants Claimed Community Settlement

Judge’s Ruling: Indirect Expropriation

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After 20-Year Conflict, Judge Orders 150 Families Who Invaded Farm to Compensate Owner in Mato Grosso

After 20 Years of Occupation, Judge from Cuiabá Converts Eviction to Indirect Expropriation of Farm in Mato Grosso. Occupants Must Compensate Former Owners.

The Beginning of the Dispute Over the Farm

Life Interrupted by Agrarian Conflict

Occupants Claimed Community Settlement

Judge’s Ruling: Indirect Expropriation

Justice and Social Impact

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Norway is drilling 27 kilometers of rock 392 meters below the bottom of a fjord to build the world’s largest and deepest underwater road tunnel — when completed, a 21-hour journey will be reduced to 10.

Chinese engineers begin filling a 217-meter dam at an altitude of 3,000 meters and prepare a 2,240 MW hydroelectric power plant to integrate hydropower, solar, and wind energy in the upper Jinsha.

A German architect built a cylindrical house in 1994 that rotates to follow the sun throughout the day, generates 5 times more energy than it consumes, and was the world’s first energy-positive house.

An astronaut spent 340 days in space while his twin brother stayed on Earth, and NASA found a “rejuvenating” effect, genes, microbiome, cognition, and immune system that revealed the biological cost of living outside the planet.

China has just successfully tested the world’s first ground effect maritime vehicle, a craft that flies up to 6 meters above the water at 200 km/h, uses quantum technology and 6G communication, and can rescue patients in the middle of the ocean.

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