The Guardian
(...) Before the world was outraged by the murders of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous advocate Bruno Pereira, it was aghast at the killings of Chico Mendes and Dorothy Stang.
Mendes was a rubber tapper and unionist murdered by ranchers in 1988 in the southern Amazon; 73-year-old Stang was a US nun assassinated in 2005 for standing up to illegal loggers on the other side of the rainforest. (...)
But for those hoping the recent murder of Phillips and Pereira will mark a turning point for the Amazon – some combination, say, of greater environmental protections, more oversight or broader rights for Brazil’s Indigenous communities – the killings of Mendes and Stang do not offer very comforting lessons. (...)
“We don’t believe that anything changes because of these cases,” said [Ronilson Costa, national coordinator of the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), a Catholic church organisation that monitors land conflicts]. “There is not less violence or fewer deaths and the numbers prove that.”
“The level of impunity is very high,” he added. “Areas such as Amazonia are always in conflict, there is something every week, whether it is a threat, an attack, a prison, and murder as well. I think the expansion and invasion of capital has generated more violence.”
According to CPT statistics, Stang was one of 39 people killed over land disputes in 2005. In the years since, more than 600 people have perished, an average of 38 each year. (...)
Only around 10 % of the cases recorded by the CPT come to trial and even then it often takes years of delays, appeals and retrials. (...)
Complete article
Brazilian ecologist Chico Mendes and Dorothy Stang, a 73-year-old American nun, were both shot dead. Composite: AFP/Getty images/Reuters.
Tags: #brazil #brasil #brazilie #amazon #killings #dom_philips #bruno_pereira #chico_mendes #dorothy_stang #indigenous_people #mining #illegal_mining #logging #illegal_logging #cattle_farming #deforestation #rainforest #bolsonaro #jair_bolsonaro #marina_silva #impunity
