Another Amazon Activist Murdered
From Student Action Network from Environmental Defense
September 4, 2001
On August 25, Ademir Alfeu Federicci (Dema), a Brazilian union leader and environmental activist was murdered in his home in Altamira, Para state in the Amazon. Two intruders entered his house and shot Dema in the head in front of his family.
This is the second such killing of a prominent social activist in the Brazilian Amazon recently. Just last month, hundreds of Action Network activists around the world sent emails to Brazil's President urging a full and swift investigation into the killing of Jose Pinheiro Lima, "Dede," a rural union leader, and his wife and son. Soon after the action alert was sent, Brazilian police announced that suspects in the killing had been arrested.
Take action again and help ensure this latest killing of a social activist in Brazil is investigated and solved.
BACKGROUND:
Dema had received numerous death threats and was well known for exposing and denouncing corrupt politicians. Many observers note that violence in the eastern Amazon area has increased drastically in recent years. Much of this violence has been targeted at folks like Dema. Most recently, he supported the federal police investigation into diversion of public funds at SUDAM (the Superintendency for Amazon Development), exposing large scale theft of development funds by Para politicians, starting with Senate majority leader and former Para governor Jader Barbalho, currently under investigation.
Dema also led a local grassroots movement called the Movement for the Development of the Transamazon and the Xingu (MDTX), which fought the construction of the Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River. This coalition of farmers, indigenous people, women's and religious groups worked to end illegal logging and supported the creation of protected forest areas in the region. Also, back on the books is planned construction of another dam, the Belo Monte dam, originally proposed in the 1980s but then shelved after local, national and international, protests. This proposed dam has generated much conflict as local grassroots groups oppose the dam as environmentally destructive and unlikely to bring development benefits to the region.
Local police responsible for the murder investigation claim Dema's murder was a robbery. Federal police investigating the SUDAM fraud think that Dema was, instead, a victim of murder-for-hire. "I don't believe it was robbery," said federal police delegate Helcio Dias Leite. Nothing was taken from Dema's home, and he had exposed several criminal groups, including illegal loggers and corrupt ranchers and politicians.
TAKE ACTION:
Contact Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso expressing your concern. Urge him to ensure a full investigation, apprehension and trial for those responsible for Dema's murder. Your response can help defend grassroots movements and leaders for sustainable, equitable development across the Amazon!
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take action on this alert by going to the following URL:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/amazon/