Brazil To Protect Environmental Activists As Murders Increase Over Illegal Logging Disputes

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil's government will protect rural activists and increase policing in its Amazon rain forest in an effort to stem deadly disputes over illegal logging, officials said following a meeting Monday on how to halt the violence.

At least three rural activists have been killed in the region in less than a week: Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria, in the state of Para, and Adelino Ramos in the state of Rondonia. A fourth person who may have witnessed the murders in Para was also killed.

According to the Catholic Land Pastoral watchdog group, known as CPT, more than 1,150 rural activists have been killed in Brazil over the past 20 years. The murders are mostly carried out by gunmen hired by loggers, ranchers and farmers to silence protest over the illegal cutting of forests.

The watchdog group has a 125-name-long list of activists whose lives are in danger because of their stance against loggers are common in the environmentally important region.

Justice Minister Luiz Paulo Barreto said that Brazil's government will analyze all the cases on the CPT's list and offer them immediate protection.

"The federal government will not hold back on efforts to bring peace to the region," Barreto told a news conference.

Monday's meeting was led by Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer, and included the ministers of environment, justice, rural development and human rights. Their goal was to foster cooperation between the federal and state governments to halt the killings. The governors of the states of Para, Amazonas and Roraima were invited to the capital, Brasilia, for meetings later this week.

Ministers announced the creation of a working group on Amazon violence. No details were given about how the government intends to fulfill its promise to increase policing in the region or how many new officers would be sent.

"We will not accept these murders, and will intensify monitoring and investigation and strengthen actions leading to sustainable development in the region," said Rural Development Minister Afonso Florence.

As a first step, the Justice Ministry requested the federal police's participation in investigating the death of the couple in the state of Para, according to a memo from the presidential palace's press office.

Meanwhile, a man, Ozeas Vicente, was arrested Monday after turning himself in for killing Adelino Ramos, according to a press release from the public safety department of Rondonia state.

Ramos was known in the Amazon region for denouncing illegal logging. He died Friday after being shot six times while taking produce to sell at a market with his wife and children. His family was not harmed.

He lead the Amazon Peasants Association, and had survived one of the deadliest land conflicts in Brazil – the massacre at Corumbiara in August of 1995, when police killed 10 landless activists. Two police also died.

Ramos' life had been threatened repeatedly by loggers from states including Acre, Amazonas and Rondonia, according to a press statement from the federal secretary for human rights.

Comments

[cambo]

08:31 PM on 06/02/2011

Brasil is a very corrupt country, human lives don`t usually mean much, as we can see by the 1250 deaths in 20 years. The government can`t handle all the problems ranging from unbearable traffic and no infrastructure to druglords in the favellas and usually adopts ostrich style tactics to deal with the problems and just hope things work themselves out. It is so sad these activists die in vain in this lawless region and I believe the only way is to give them arms to fend for themselves and hopefully take out some bad eggs seeing how they are willing to die for the cause anyway.

[TheSarge]

04:10 PM on 06/02/2011

I don't have any "Black Ops" training, But as an Infantry NCO and as a firearms defense and combat rifle instructor I am very qualified to teach people how to use firearms effectively in order to defend themselves. I have taught foreign military personnel, I am sure these folks would learn as easily as others. But I would have no idea how to begin, or whether Brazil would throw us in jail. Perhaps offering security in lieu of "training" would be more appropriate. Or a campaign to ask the Brazilian government to protect the activists and scientists. Any ideas?

[KarlaElisa]

07:31 PM on 06/02/2011

yeah. there's 2 deep green sites and they might have contacts down there or members within that have pulled some time in that region.

one is called Fertile Ground http://fertileground1.ning.com/page/what-is-deep-green and your Contact there would be Max Wilbert

the other org is called Deep Green Resistance and I'm not sure who the contact would be but i'm hearing good things about this group. http://deepgreenresistance.org/

aside from that if these people have no good ideas, greenpeace has participated in escapades down there, specifically tracking these illegal tree harvests and then revealing to authorities in ports when the shipment arrives that it IS illegal timber. so i'd think someone working with the brazilian rainforest chapter would have some information. personally i'd categorize greenpeace as bright green but sometimes they pull some pretty neat stuff out of their hats.

i don't think the brazilian gov't cares so much about activists getting capped myself. but the activists down there could surely use some military training and help w/ security, i'd imagine.

good luck to you and stay safe yourself.

[William Hunter Duncan]

09:38 PM on 06/02/2011

Sarge,

You had some very nice words for me that I don't see in this comments list. Thank you, though I wonder why those words do not appear? In any case, if you go, try ayahuasca while you're there. Check in with the Santo Daime. She might help you. And don't forget to come back. We are likely to need your skills here.

www.offthegridmpls.blogspot.com

[KarlaElisa]

11:49 AM on 06/01/2011

"The federal government will not hold back on efforts to bring peace to the region,"

REALLY? Well the EASIEST way to protect the activists trying to stop these illegal timber movements would be to police these rivers and stop the flow of the lumber that must be transported out that way so the pesky, little activists aren't out there doing the Brazilian Gov'ts job for them. If Brazil's Gov't really cares, they'll stop that lumber being floated out to be shipped around the world. They'll beef up their security at ports and shut these operations DOWN.

[William Hunter Duncan]

02:20 AM on 06/01/2011

Protect the activists, but not the forest? Sounds like more Government complicity in the ongoing destruction of the Earth.

www.offthegridmpls.blogspot.com

[POPE INNOCENT]

11:04 AM on 06/01/2011

Check this out OFF THE GRID FARMER
:)

What in the world are they spraying FULL-LENGTH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf0khstYDLA

[TheSarge]

01:50 PM on 06/01/2011

Contrails and thats all they are, I know for a fact that I have never had any abnormal test results with components in freshwater that I could not identify. We would have residual evidence

[KarlaElisa]

11:51 AM on 06/01/2011

honestly. they might try going to the root of the problem. if the forests were being protected there would be no activist doing what should be the Gov'ts JOB.

[TheSarge]

12:55 AM on 06/01/2011

Perhaps I should take my skills to Brazil, teach my kind how to protect the forests the way I would.

[KarlaElisa]

11:53 AM on 06/01/2011

based on your micro bio, i'm thinking you're down with a little armed resistance and if i'm right:by all means PLEASE DO IT. these people who do these things only understand violence flowing down the beating stick. i say it's high time to send it back the other way.

[TheSarge]

01:45 PM on 06/01/2011

I agree and I wish it was possible, I wonder how one would go about offering armed highly trained security forces to the defenders of the forests. Let's see how loggers like being hunted by another predator.

[TheSarge]

01:46 PM on 06/01/2011

Not sure if my reply posted, my net lagged a bit.

[WarriorLemming]

12:12 AM on 06/02/2011

f/f Godspeed, Sarge.

[Anne Mccormick]

11:54 PM on 05/31/2011

i have an idea that may or may not be a good one. why doesn't the Government of Brazil give the farmers and ranchers financial incentives not to cut down the forest. these people, are at heart, business people who think in terms of the bottom line. Brazil should make it more profitable for the farmers and ranchers not to cut down the trees. environmentalists may not agree but it's what may have to be done. as for the loggers, i don't know what to do about them.

[keep it solid]

10:19 AM on 06/01/2011

Yea, they should look into alternatives ways of making money without destroying the forests.
Ecotourism would be one thing I guess.
As for the demand of hardwood, well that's a tough one.
I know there is a huge demand from the eu etc - countries
that have depleted their own reserves, but there has to be solutions. Look at it this way, what will happen if theses forsts were depleted too?
In any event, more rigorous reforesting is a good first step - not only in the amazon but elswhere too.

[keep it solid]

10:51 AM on 06/01/2011

oups, sorry for the typos folks
Allow me to add something as far as money making alternatives are concerened.
While logging may produce quick money,
the rainforsets, are a treasure chest because of the biodiversity - plant, insect and animal life they sustain. Once the forests are gone, so is the life they sustained.

[nature nerd]

12:48 PM on 06/01/2011

You may be interested in something called REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) which I think is essentially what you are referring to. CIFOR has a good overview of this policy framework here: http://www.forestsclimatechange.org/publications/redd-101.html