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| Charcoal on paper by Liz Peterson, study for a painting. Original Photograph by Filipe Milanez |
Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva (nicknamed Ze Claudio) and his wife Maria were outspoken activists trying to protect the Amazon rainforest from rapid deforestation by logging and agricultural companies. The couple also owned a sustainable nut farm in the state of Para in Northern Brazil.
Ze Claudio was very active in the campaign to protect the forest and was invited to speak at a TED confererence in 2010. In this TED talk, he denounced the abuse of power leading to the demise of the forest and it's diversity, noting that the biodiversity of plant life in his forest had dwindled from 85% to 20% since the arrival of logging companies. He also alluded to the danger of his activism, and predicted he may be killed:
“I live from the forest. I will protect her by any means.
For this … I live with a bullet in my head at any time…I can be here today
talking with you, and a month from now you know what could happen to me..disappeared.
Ask me if I’m afraid. I am a human being – I have fear. But my fear does not silence me...these trees that we have in Amazonia are my sisters. I am a son of
the forest. I live from them. I depend on them. I am part of them. It is life
for me who lives in the forest. It is life for all of you in urban centres
because she is purifying the air. She is giving something to us.”
Just a few months after his speech, his prediction came true when he and Maria were gunned down in a settlement near their home in Para. Due to media coverage, their murders were investigated by the Brazilian authorities and two men have since been charged for pulling the trigger. However, strong evidence and former threats suggest that Jose Rodrigues Moreira (called Ze Rodrigues) hired the two hitmen, one of which was Rodrigues' brother, to kill the couple. Ze Claudio was protesting the forced eviction of several farmers on property owned by Ze Rodrigues at the time of his death. Last year, Rodrigues was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
There are connections between the destruction of the Amazon forest and the U.S. supply chain. Some of the big players in deforestation are cattle ranchers, who are increasingly supplying beef to U.S. importers. Charcoal companies are also responsible, and their product is used to make pig iron, a component of steel that is also imported to the U.S.
Sources:
Ze Claudio's TED talk
Interview with Maria's Sister, Laisa Santos Sampaio
Documentary about Maria and Ze Claudio
Smithsonian Article
http://www.vice.com/read/the-death-of-ze-claudio-and-maria-0000041-v18n11?Contentpage=3
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/protests-erupt-in-brazil-after-landowner-jose-rodrigues-moreira-is-acquitted-in-amazon-activists-murder-case-8562428.html
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