The Trans-Amazonian highway begins in northeast Brazil and crosses the states of Para and Amazonia. The earth road, known as BR-230 on travel maps, was completed in the 1970s during the military regime that ruled Brazil from 1964 until 1985. The highway was intended to further land reform by drawing landless peasants to the area, especially from the poorest regions of northern Brazil. More than 500,000 people have migrated to Transamazonia since the early 1970s. Many of the colonists feel that the government enticed them there with false promises.

The road has never been paved, so it is nothing but dust in the dry season and an impassable swamp during the wet season. Farmers struggle to make a living, with the highway as their only means of transporting produce to market. When the rains come, large segments of the highway wash away entirely, leaving the farmers with no way...