The Slaughter Continues in Brazil

Posted By: David on June 17, 2011 No Comment

Confiscated illegally logged timber floats down the Guam river delta in Pará, Brazil. Photograph: Reuters/Brazil

Update: We wrote recently about the murder of Amazon rainforest activists José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Mario do Espírito Santo, who were murdered for speaking out against the illegal destruction of the forest by loggers and others.

Well, the slaughter continues. Just after Jose and Mario were murdered, activist Adelino Ramos was shot and killed. Ramos was a survivor of the activist slaughter 15 years ago, when the Brazilian police (that’s right, the police) killed ten activists encamped on land they were trying to protect.

And a week later, another activist was shot and wounded, and as he was being taken to the hospital his attackers caught up to him and finished the job.

This week, activist Obede Loyla Souza was found with a bullet to his head. He apparently had a confrontation with loggers who were illegally logging back in January, and since then had been afraid for his life.

The Brazilian government continues to claim it is powerless to protect either the rainforest or the activists.

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