Community Leaders Killed in the War for the Amazon

Yesterday, Brazilian politicians took a decisive step towards opening the door to massive new Amazon deforestation, by voting in favor of radical changes to the Brazilian Forest Code - the primary legal instrument for protecting the Amazon. If these changes become law they will let hundreds of forest criminals off the hook, and massively expand the amount of forest under threat from the chainsaws. After yesterday's vote, the bill needs Senate approval prior to becoming law, and can then can only be vetoed by President Dilma Roussef.  

Greenpeace Brazil issued a statement outlining the implications of the changes to the Forest Code and the state of the Amazon as it faces further deforestation. “The Amazon forest has never been threatened as it is now. Yesterday was a dark day for Brazil. It started with the assassination by gunmen of Jose Claudio Silva and Maria do Espirito Santo, forest community leaders in the Amazon state of Pará, and finished with the news that most of Brazil’s politicians in the Congress approved the assassination of our forest legislation," said Paulo Adario, director of the Amazon Campaign for Greenpeace.  


“This debate in parliament is already having a devastating impact to the Amazon forest and it's communities. Government monitoring shows a huge spike in deforestation over the last months compared to last year. Farmers are rushing to cut down forests, expecting that the new law will protect them from being punished for their past crimes. They’re also gambling that the new rules will allow them to cut down more forest in the future, and they’re getting started before the ink is even dry.” Illegal logging barons are acting with impunity, as indicated through the assassination of José Silva and Maria, his wife. A community leader, who collected and sold Brazil nuts, José lived with constant death threats and in an area with considerable illegal timber extraction. Relaxing forest rules will only increase the risk to such communities, and to the forest they depend on for their livelihoods.”
 

According to The Guardian, the couple were killed in an ambush near their home in Nova Ipixuna, in Pará state, about 37 miles from Marabá. The couple had not had police protection despite getting frequent death threats because of their battle against illegal loggers and ranchers. On Tuesday there were conflicting reports from about whether the killing happened on Monday night or Tuesday morning. A police spokesperson said there were reports of a "double homicide" at the settlement called Maçaranduba 2. 

In a speech at a TEDx event last November, Da Silva spoke of his fears that loggers would try to silence him. "I could be here today talking to you and in one month you will get the news that I disappeared. I will protect the forest at all costs. That is why I could get a bullet in my head at any moment … because I denounce the loggers and charcoal producers, and that is why they think I cannot exist. [People] ask me, 'are you afraid?' Yes, I'm a human being, of course I am afraid. But my fear does not silence me. As long as I have the strength to walk I will denounce all of those who damage the forest."

Roberto Smeraldi, founder and director of the environmental group Amigos da Terra (not affiliated with Friends of the Earth International), who worked with Da Silva in the Amazon, said he had been in a meeting with Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, discussing changes to the Forest Code when the news broke of Da Silva being killed. "He was convinced he would be killed one day," Smeraldi said. He added that Da Silva had been "very active" in the fight against illegal forest burning and logging. According to Brazilian media reports, Rousseff has asked her chief of staff, Gilberto Carvalho, to offer support to the murder investigation.





Source: Greenpeace, The Guardian