A martyr of the forest

Chico Mendes, a martyr of the forest 
Other historical personage Brazilian Chico Mendes (1943-1988), activist and rubber tapper who fought for the protection of local populations threatened by deforestation. He was assassinated by landowners in collusion. His martyrdom was later sung by Paul McCartney, from Mana and the Nomads.

links its name to the fight against the deforestation of the Amazon forest, led by farmers' meetings with methods and successfully using the practice dell'empate ("impediment, stall"). In 1978 he was elected vice president of the city council in Xapuri (the following year he is president). Tends to transform the council (Câmara Municipal) in a permanent assembly in which all members participate in political, social and religious city, not getting the support of the official political parties, including his own party, the Movement Democrático Brasileiro (MDB) .

Was publicly threatened by landowners in the area and begin the violent repression of empates, who lose their initial effectiveness, and extra-judicial imprisonment of hundreds of farmers for the next decade; Also in this year Chico Mendes was arrested and tortured. The rural workers union knows, however, a booming becoming the largest state of Acre. From 1979 to Lula, Jose Ibrahim and others will participate in the meetings that led to the birth in 1980 of the Workers' Party (PT, Workers Party), an organization that will give political support to the claims of the CUT, the trade union federation which was part of the general rural workers union.

In the same year he was arrested and tried for the murder of Wilson Pinheiro, union leader of an organization opponent, but the process reveals the frame of the prosecution, for which they are instead sentenced to 40 landowners Xapuri. In the three years following address two other processes for incitement to violence, both being acquitted for lack of evidence. Since 1981, Mendes is secretary of the CUT in Xapuri, a position he held until his death while continuing political activity in PT; in 1982 lost the election for a seat in parliament deputy state of Acre.

In 1985, driving the first national congress of the rubber tappers, during which created the National Council of Seringueiros (CNS, Conselho Nacional do Seringueiros), which will become the subject that will bring political and trade union claims of Mendes, peasants and indigenous peoples of 'Amazon to the attention of the international media. In 1987 a delegation of the United Nations verification directly to Xapuri allegations that the big U.S. financial support to projects that cause deforestation unemployment forced the rubber tappers, the forced exile of the farmers Amazon Indians and ecological damage of global dimensions; following a 40-day campaign in the United States, during which Chico Mendes speaks in front of the Senate, the BID (Interamerican Bank of Development) withdraws its investment in Amazonia.

In 1988, Mendes has been working successfully for the creation of an "extractive reserve" rubber seringal in Cachoeira, expropriated by the state to the family landowner Alves da Silva, who had in turn acquired illegally by small landowners. It is the year in which was born the União Democrática Ruralist (Rural Democratic Union or UDR), a union that does in fact paramilitary actions throughout the state, threatening repeatedly Chico Mendes, who will denounce to the police the names of his future assassins. In the third congress of the CUT Mendes complaint again the crimes of the UDR, and exposes the thesis congressional "In defense of the people of the forest" in front of the 6,000 delegates who will elect the Secretary-General by acclamation.

The death 

On 22 December 1988 he was killed in front of the door by the brothers Alves da Silva, former owners of the seringal Cachoeira. Regarding the arrest of the murderer and principals: despite being well known, were considered out of reach from prosecution for their political connections and their economic power. Strong national and international pressure to provide much the case in court.

In December 1990, Darly Alves da Silva, the landowner and local farmer, with whom Chico had clashed several times to obtain the title of "reservas extractivistas" for his region, he received a sentence of 19 years in prison for have been the instigator of the murder; his son, Darci, received the same sentence for having been the perpetrator.

The initial enthusiasm was very, both at international and regional media, but as soon as the media shifted their spotlight, the killings continued. From the late seventies, hundreds of murders of trade union leaders who were protesting for the rights of the earth, the one for which they investigated and that led to a conviction was that of Chico Mendes. The sentence Darly Alves da Silva was canceled in February 1992 in Rio Branco from the state court of appeals.