Land laundering and institutionalized land grabbing

summary land incorporation, state titling, and quilombola rights in the Cheiroso case, Maranhão, Brazil

Abstract

This article analyzes whether the summary incorporation and subsequent titling of public lands by the Institute of Colonization and Lands of Maranhão (ITERMA), in the case of the Cheiroso Quilombola Community in Itapecuru-Mirim, Maranhão, resulted in the institutional legitimation of a chain of title previously marked by fraud. The research is guided by the following question: to what extent was ITERMA’s administrative conduct compatible with the legal regime governing vacant public lands, the constitutional protection of quilombola territories, and the principles that guide the allocation of public lands? The study adopts a qualitative, critical-legal approach based on documentary analysis. It argues that the case reveals a contemporary form of institutionalized land grabbing, referred to here as “land laundering”: the reinsertion of a flawed possession or chain of title into the legal system through formally valid administrative acts. The findings point to inconsistencies between the public purpose of summary incorporation, the precedence of the quilombola claim filed in 2005, the administrative recognition of title fraud in 2018, and the subsequent issuance of titles to third parties. The article contributes to debates on land governance, the constitutional protection of quilombola territories, and the state production of apparent legality in contexts of agrarian conflict.