Greenpeace: the state
government of Para has failed to protect her
13/02/2005 - 74 year old American missionary
Sister Dorothy Stang was assassinated on 12
February 2005 for her work in defending the
Amazon and rural workers.
74 year old American missionary Sister Dorothy
Stang was assassinated on Saturday in the
Amazon state of Para, Brazil. Sister Dorothy
was travelling to a sustainable development
project in Anapu with some colleagues when
she was shot three times by two gunmen.
This tragedy occurred 16 years after the
murder of Chico Mendes, who was also a defender
of rural communities. Mendes was also a colleague
of the current Minister for the Environment
Marina Silva. Marina Silva is in Anapu meeting
with State authorities, following the news
of Sister Dorothy's death.
"Like Chico Mendes, Sister Dorothy refused
to be intimidated and she paid an enormous
price," said Paulo Adario, Greenpeace
Amazon co-ordinator. "She selflessly
worked for many years supporting the rights
of rural workers, and defending the Amazon
from reckless deforestation and we can't let
her death be in vain."
74 year old American missionary Sister Dorothy
Stang was assassinated on 12 February 2005
for her work in defending the Amazon and rural
workers.
Originally from Dayton, Ohio, US, Sister
Dorothy was a Brazilian citizen and has worked
in the Amazon for the past 37 years, living
in Anapú since 1972. For 56 years she
has been a member in good standing in the
Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame
de Namur, an international Catholic religious
order of approximately two thousand women
who work on five continents. She opposed land
grabbers and illegal loggers who use intimidation,
violence and guns to force small landowners
off their land. She worked in an area that
is remote and lawless and she has received
many death threats.
"She had been on a death list for years,
yet the State government of Para has failed
to protect her. She was not alone either,
as there are many others fighting against
the forest destruction and the rights of local
communities, whose lives are in danger",
said Adario. "The violence and intimidation
must stop. We cannot accept more martyrs in
the Amazon."
Para is the Amazon state with the highest
murder rate related to land disputes. According
to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), a Catholic
organisation campaigning for landless people
and the poor, 1,237 rural workers died in
Brazil from 1985 to 2001, and 40 percent of
these occurred in Para.
Para State is responsible for approximately
one-third of the deforestation in the Brazilian
Amazon and plays a leading role in both environmental
abuse and human rights violations.
