Crédits photo: AFP
(December 15, 1944 in Xapurí, Brazil – December 22, 1988)
“At first I thought I was fighting to save the rubber trees; then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon forest. Now I know that I am fighting for humanity. CHICO MENDES
Chico Mendes was murdered at the age of 44 at his home in Xapurí, in front of his family, by hired killers paid by a wealthy landowner and cattle farmer. Two years later, in December 1990, farmer Darcy Alves Pereira and his son Darly Alves were sentenced to 19 years in prison for plotting Mendes’ murder. The murder of Chico Mendes moved the whole world.
Partly due to the international media attention, following his murder, forest reserves were actually created in the area where he lived. Today there are more than 20 of them, covering more than 8 million hectares (80,000 km²).