Two Faces of Brazil

While an awareness of the need to care for the life of the planet is growing, especially for the life of the tropical forest of the Amazon in the northern part of South America, gunmen are paid to eliminate those who are struggling to preserve it.  This is what happened on May 24, 2011, when José Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espírito Santo da Silva, environmental leaders, were executed in Pará in the north of Brazil.  These two loved the Amazon forest.  When walking through the forest, José would point out different trees and animals with pride and say, “I see the beauty of nature, which captivates me.  Wherever I am sitting or go to meditate and think, how beautiful is nature in the silence or with the wind rustling in the foliage.”

The settlement where the couple lived was being devastated. Armed with a digital camera, they went about recording crimes against the environment. Maria took pictures, while José pointed out devastated trees and land, burned to provide pasture for cattle. The images were sent to the Pastoral Commission for Land, which sent them on to the proper authorities or directly to the Federal Public Ministry and to the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA). “They were organized.  They documented everything. They came here and showed me the images, which helped us to prepare our operations,” said Roberto Scarpari, an IBAMA agent in Marabá, in the interior of Pará.

“I am afraid, as a human being. However, I will not desist because of that,” said José in an interview in October, 2010.  The couple was assassinated by gunmen in the settlement.  This was one more crime that has shocked Brazil, because José was considered a successor to Chico Mendes, one of the most important Brazilian environmentalists, who was assassinated in 1988.

See the photos.

by Sister Adelide Canci (Lagoa Vermelha, Brazil)