Amazon activist and wife murdered as Brazil debates land bill
By Raymond Colitt; Editing by Stuart Grudgings
24 May 2011 BRASILIA (Reuters) – An Amazon rainforest activist and his wife were shot dead in northern Brazil on Tuesday as the country’s Congress debated a divisive land bill that threatens to fuel deforestation. Joao Claudio Ribeiro da Silva, a rubber tapper and leading forest conservationist, and his wife Maria do Espirito Santo were ambushed and killed in the Amazon state of Para, federal police and government officials said. It was not immediately clear who shot the couple but Da Silva had warned of death threats against him by loggers and cattle ranchers. Both victims were active in the same organization of forest workers that was founded by legendary conservationist Chico Mendes, who was assassinated by ranchers in 1988. … Last week officials reported a sharp rise in deforestation that environmentalists said was likely fueled by expectations the new law, which gives amnesties much of the illegal tree-felling in recent decades, would pass. … U.S.-born nun Dorothy Stang, who defended poor peasants and opposed the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, was shot dead times in February 2005.
