This article is part of “Connecting the Americas,” a collaborative project of Americas Quarterly and Zócalo Public Square Entry into the Casa Chico Mendes Museum is free but it’ll cost you $20,000 to visit the environmental activist’s assassin He lives down the street—if you’re interested I recently visited Brazil’s dusty Wild West town of Xapuri to look into the legacy of Francisco “Chico” Mendes most famous defender of the Amazon rainforest and an inspiration to a generation of environmentalists—most notably Marina Silva How Brazil treated the memory Mendes—and his assassins who have brazenly returned to their nearby ranch like characters from an old cowboy film—might provide a glimpse into the nation’s concern for environmentalism and activism and maybe also into the candidacy of Silva Mendes had rallied rubber tappers and Indigenous people in the Amazon to forcefully resist the encroachment of farmers and cattle ranchers who were clearing a football field-sized swath of forest every second and spewing carbon dioxide pollution into the atmosphere Mendes is an official national hero and a world-recognized activist so I thought it was reasonable to also expect him to be revered in Xapuri “Chico Mendes has been a symbolic force for people all over the world,” the international environmental advocate Casey Box told me “Other nations see him as a major force against industries and pushing back against aggression I couldn’t even find a postcard of Mendes for sale While Box said he recalled seeing an Indigenous activist in Indonesia wearing a Chico Mendes t-shirt the only Brazilian I’ve ever seen wearing a Mendes t-shirt was a staff worker at the Casa Chico Mendes Museum which is where the activist was blasted by a twenty-gauge shotgun in front of his wife and children days before Christmas in 1988.“Visitors to the museum come from mostly other countries because the population from Brazil doesn’t really recognize the fight,” the museum worker told me A magazine cover featuring Brazilian presidential candidate Marina Silva I would later relay all this to Sergio Abranches a Brazilian social scientist and environmental writer “Chico Mendes is absolutely more popular outside Brazil,” Abranches told me “You’re more likely to find people who know about Chico Mendes at a university of the United States than at the University of São Paulo [Brazil’s top college].” The unclear memory of Mendes reflects a larger indifference toward the environment and underscores the improbable rise of his protégé who has become the candidate of change amid Brazil’s social unrest and economic recession she is expected to continue his fight and provide new support for activists in the world’s most dangerous nation to be an environmental activist “Marina Silva’s presidency would make Brazil an extremely robust and important global environmental leader,” said Steve Schwartzman of the Environmental Defense Fund who knew Mendes and also worked with Silva Brazilians go to the polls Sunday, and a second-round runoff is expected on October 26 between Silva and the incumbent, President Dilma Rousseff, who has recently lengthened her lead Rousseff is an aggressive supporter of new roads and hydroelectric dams through the forest while Silva wants stricter environmental oversight and support for renewable energy such as solar and wind I flew into the tiny state capital of Rio Branco and connected with a friend researching Brazilian environmental policy—her excellent Portuguese made up for my language fumbles—and we took a three-hour taxi ride west over pot-holed roads to Mendes’s quaint little hometown Acre’s landscape is still scarred by massive deforestation Cattle pasture and farmland stretch to the horizon in every direction and little forest was visible until we neared Xapuri a protected area where Mendes woke early every morning to collect latex from rubber trees still works on the reserve as a guide showing visitors how rubber tappers would walk the trails and tap the trees Nilson told me his life was also threatened during the 1980s when he and Marina Silva participated in Mendes’s so-called empates when groups of armed rubber tappers would forcefully dismantle the camps of deforestation crews “We were threatened because of having helped in the protests,” Nilson said as we walked the hard-packed jungle paths of Mendes’ old stomping grounds “There were people pursuing me because of having helped Chico.” Mendes had banded together Indigenous peoples with rubber tappers and other extrativistas—forest-dwellers who harvest sustainable products—into a recognized group that could vocally oppose deforestation and land grabbing “That was a great advance,” said Philip Fearnside a longtime researcher of the Amazon and friend of Mendes “Now you had an alliance between the two groups with similar interests.” but he was understatedly charming and diplomatic skills recognized by international groups looking for a figurehead several U.S.-based environmental groups flew the genial Brazilian to Washington DC to convince the Inter-American Development Bank and Congress to support the creation of extractive reserves and the exposure helped Mendes receive several big international awards that brought international scrutiny of deforestation in the Amazon—and later helped add pressure on the Brazilian government to find and prosecute Mendes’s killers The memory of Mendes was strong back at the Seringal Cachoeira I found an ambivalence toward Mendes and a chilling regard for his killers It’s a cozy town with a collection of colorful food markets and stalls along the Rio Branco river a winding tributary of the Amazon that once carried the region’s harvest of rubber down to the state capital and onward more than 1,000 miles northeast to the industrial hub of Manaus and from there another 900 miles to the Atlantic Ocean Mendes’s death is eerily retold in Xapuri at his old wood-paneled home—hardly more than a shack—preserved as it was the day he died Bloodstains are still on the kitchen wall where the 44-year-old was shot with signs describing the scene in the first person as if the ghost of Mendes is retelling his death ”I was coming close to the door and got shot in the chest,” reads one placard and seem to have returned to Xapuri with a sense of defiance The Alveses today shop at a general store operated by Francisco Ramalho de Souza a participant in some of the first empates and a past president of the Rural Workers’ Union of Xapuri I asked if there was any tension with the Alveses Down the street from Mendes’s old house is the Hotel Veneza The drab concrete building was also a refuge for the reporters and television crews who descended on Xapuri following his assassination according to the 1990 book The Burning Season by The New York Times reporter Andrew Revkin “the woman who ran the Veneza learned that Americans do not like heaps of sugar brewed directly into their coffee She’s run the Hotel Veneza for more than four decades and brews a super-sweet coffee for anyone staying at her pousada but she wasn’t shy about telling me her opinion of Mendes He lost his campaign for state representative in 1982 and later for town mayor because people didn’t like him I asked Viana what she thought of the rancher Darli Alves and his family But this was like going to Martin Luther King’s hometown and getting an earful about the civil rights activist’s extramarital affairs and alleged communist ties mixed with sympathy toward his killers.  I waited all the next day for that meeting—but in the end her son said he couldn’t get in touch with the Alveses after all But why not simply go and knock on Alves’ front door I hired a taxi for the trip back to Rio Branco that I wanted to make a stop along the way He looked at me in the rearview mirror and laughed but da Cruz said his brother-in-law wasn’t home He pointed left out the window at a closed gate to a dirt road through an open field: Alves’ ranch I asked if Mendes ever came up in discussion at the family dinner table—and it’s a big table, so to speak, as Alves is said to have had some 30 children with numerous wives “He says he didn’t kill Chico Mendes,” da Cruz told me A local lawyer named Carlos Almeida was also traveling in our taxi ”Everybody has a different story to tell about his life,” Almeida said But there’s a good image from people who know how to separate his life from his work.” “I don’t know why so many Americans come to see Chico Mendes’ house da Cruz back with an invitation to return to his brother-in-law’s ranch: Alves had said he would speak with me for a fee of $20,000 Perhaps: Who are you voting for on October 5 Marina Silva might not have been the oddest answer but she’s also made a pro-agribusiness congressman her vice presidential candidate—perhaps showing something that she learned from Mendes about creating alliances and also signaling a truce between environmentalists that Brazil is big enough for the both of them Among those people campaigning on Silva’s behalf “Marina could change the narrative of Mendes,” said the sociologist Abranches Stephen Kurczy is a special correspondent for Americas Quarterly he was Brazil correspondent for Monitor Global Outlook a business publication of The Christian Science Monitor He also freelances for Fusion and has contributed to The New Yorker and VICE Americas Quarterly (AQ) is the premier publication on politics We are an independent publication of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas PUBLISHED BY AMERICAS SOCIETY/ COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS Brazil's government will hand out 9 million condoms for free around Rio de Janeiro during the Olympics in August a push meant to encourage safe sex and also defend the Amazon rainforest The raw material for the condoms is tapped at the Chico Mendes Extraction Reserve in Brazil's nothern Acre state where many are devotees of the rubber tapping "saint" Sao Joao do Guarani and make offerings to him in an annual ceremony Rio's local Olympic organising committee said about 450,000 of the sustainably-produced condoms will be destined for athletes and staff housed in the Olympic Village The rest will be made widely available to the many visitors who will be arriving in the city in just a few weeks All the condoms to be distributed are produced by Natex a factory in the western Amazonian state of Acre deep in the rainforest near Brazil's border with Bolivia uses latex gathered from Amazon rubber trees by tappers who are employed by a government-run program designed to protect their traditional livelihood foster sustainable use of the rainforest and deter illegal loggers The tappers see themselves as guardians of the rainforest a 71-year-old lifelong rubber tapper with a stark white beard gathered the milky-white latex dripping into metal buckets hooked at the base of countless trees the tropical sun was filtered by the Amazon canopy Barros spoke with pride about the fierce fight he and other sustainable rubber tappers wage to maintain their craft aside from guaranteeing a fair price for the rubber "It gives the world a product - the condom - that will be very present there in Rio to fight disease and help with birth control." tappers like Barros have been on the front line of pushing Brazilian leaders to do more to halt deforestation which is mostly caused by the illegal clearing of forest for ranching The fight has sometimes come at a heavy cost as farmers and loggers have sometimes retaliated with hired guns Scores of people have been killed over the years trying to protect the forest most notably the internationally known environmentalist and rubber tapper Chico Mendes helped galvanise the government to take serious measures to battle deforestation and the violence against Amazon defenders For several years Brazil's Health Ministry has distributed millions of condoms from the factory for free at big events around Brazil - most notably the annual bacchanal of Carnival A devotee prays in front of a statue of Sao Joao do Guarani The leg is an offering to Sao Joao do Guarani A devotee walks on his knees around a chapel to make an offering to Sao Joao do Guarani has worked as a rubber extractor since his childhood Raimundo Mendes de Barros cuts a Seringueira rubber tree A youth cuts a friend's hair outside his house A house stands in the Chico Mendes Extraction Reserve Por um futuro em que as pessoas vivam em harmonia com a natureza Photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons licence You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience. Heavy rain and the overflowing Acre River flooded wide areas of the city of Rio Branco the capital of the state of Acre in Brazil The city recorded 124.4 mm of rain in 24 hours to 23 March 2023 according to figures from Brazil’s Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET) The Acre River at Rio Branco jumped from around 8 metres to 15.80 metres in 24 hours Streets and homes were damaged across 10 neighbourhoods including Placas Authorities helped to evacuate some residents who took refuge in school buildings in the Conquista neighbourhood Flooding has continued in the city since then with the Acre River rising to 16.96 metres As many as 2,213 people have evacuated their homes The river has also flooded areas in the municipalities of Assis Brasil In Xapuri levels of the Acre River stood at 15.16 metres (flood level is 15 metres) and in Brasileia the river reached 13.62 metres (flood level is 11.40 metres) flooding from the Acre River has affected almost 15,000 people local authorities reported 433 displaced in Assis Brasil; 8,886 displaced in Brasileia; and 316 displaced in Xapuri Flooding along the Acre river is also affecting areas of the Pando Department in Bolivia which sits on the banks of the Acre opposite the city of Brasileia Bolivia’s Ministry of Health reported at least 300 families have been affected or evacuated Five shelters have been opened to accommodate those displaced Richard Davies is the founder of floodlist.com and reports on flooding news Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList was shot and killed in front of his family at his home in Acre His assassination was the catalyst that sparked a much broader movement to protect the Amazon against rampant deforestation The movement empowered a new generation of forest people and activists and would eventually culminate in millions of hectares of Amazon rainforest being set aside in reserves But while the deforestation rate has plunged in the Brazilian Amazon since the Mendes’s murder Violence against indigenous people and environmentalists in the Amazon is still rampant while large landowners are still largely above the law Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon even crept up over the past year Still there are encouraging signs in the Amazon and beyond that some of the key issues Mendes fought for are being more widely realized For example in places ranging from Colombia to Indonesia forest people are gaining rights to manage their traditional lands while the world’s largest institutions and companies are now paying more than lip-service to concepts like environmental sustainability Cutting down forests is no longer viewed a progress across most of the world as noted by Steve Schwartzman of the Environmental Defense Fund “Before Chico, people in Brazil, if they thought about it at all, thought that slashing and burning the Amazon forest was the price of progress,” wrote Schwartzman who worked closely with Mendes in the mid to late 1980’s not even the head of the agribusiness caucus of the Brazilian Congress – who fought very hard to relax legal restrictions on forest clearing – will say that Brazil needs to cut down more forest to grow and the overwhelming majority thinks that deforestation has to stop.” Martyr of the Amazon: The legacy of Chico Mendes The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa as protected areas become battlegrounds over history and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins and trying to forge a path forward […] You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience “It would be worth it if an envoy from heaven came down and ensured that my death will be useful to strengthen our struggle Public ceremonies and funerals will not save Amazonia” he is a “Righteous of the Forest” for his commitment to defending trees and Indians of the Amazon forest He is the Secretary General of the Brasiléia Rural Workers’ Union and fosters the creation of a union in Xapuri He has turned Xapuri Câmara Municipal into a permanent assembly involving all political social and religious components of the city without receiving the support of official political groups When violent repressions started of empates labourers carrying out peaceful resistance He took part in meetings leading to the birth of Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT he was arrested again for the murder of a trade union leader of an opposing organisation but the trial revealed the fabrication of prosecution for which 40 Xapuri landowners were convicted he led the first national congress of seringueros - workers who extract latex to manufacture natural rubber from Hevea brasiliensis trees in the Amazon Rainforest - which was to become the political and trade union reference for the claims of indigenous peoples of the Amazon forest Once a month you will receive articles and events selected by Gariwo Editorial Board Please fill out the field below and click on subscribe This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply are at the forefront in defense of the ecosystem Natives who want to protect the lands of their ancestors or activists who denounce abuses and illegal actions The Peruvian activist who’s struggling against the Yanacocha Pioneer of the fight against climate change environmental activist and leader of the Indigenous peoples of Honduras Protectress of the indigenous community and the forests of Cherán The activist imprisoned for denouncing environmental crimes in Cambodia defender of the indigenous peoples and the Amazon forest The man who managed to mitigate the consequences of Chernobyl Environmental activist and leader of the African-Colombian communities Brazilian trade unionist killed for his work on behalf of Amazonian Indians nessun contenuto sul sito di Gariwo corrisponde a quanto hai cercato Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article the Brazilian government created the first extractive reserve in 1988 Among many other honours, Mendes was the 1987 recipient of the Global 500 Award of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for environmental activism in the face of immense social In December 1988 he was shot and killed in front of his house in Xapuri Fight for the Forest: Chico Mendes in His Own Words was first published posthumously Kolkata Court relied on scientific evidence including the discovery of Sajay Roy's DNA on the victim's body AAP says Arvind Kejriwal attacked by Parvesh Verma’s supporters; BJP hits back ICC Champions Trophy India squad: Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shami included; Sanju Samson misses out Saif Ali Khan stabbed: Actor recovering, likely to be discharged in three days, says doctors Who are the 33 Israeli hostages being released by Hamas in first phase of Gaza ceasefire? 'India should not see IMEC as a counter to China's Belt and Road Initiative': UAE think-tank chief RG Kar doctor rape-murder: 'Probe half-done', allege victim's parents even as Kolkata court is set to deliver verdict Saif Ali Khan stabbing: Is Mumbai underworld involved? Around 30 police teams on the hunt for attacker human beings are equally to blame for disasters such as forest fires and earthquakes Ratan Tata | Interview with Dr Thomas Mathew, author of the biography 'Ratan Tata: A Life' Gukesh beats Ding to become youngest world chess champion! India-Australia Test: Should Rohit open? ISRAEL plans law to dissolve campus groups backing armed struggle against the state | Israel news has three shows scheduled at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on January 18 Sabyasachi Mukherjee wants to take his brand global Manmohan Singh had a long list of economic and diplomatic achievements in his decade-long tenure as PM writes Daman about her father Manmohan Singh Montek Singh Ahluwalia was the former deputy chairman The Chinese haven’t attempted any adventures in the east till date Directed by Abhishek Kapoor and starring Aaman Devgan Azaad is a film that manages to keep you hooked till the end Região de Xapuri (AC) registra índices de desmatamento e violência que remetem à época do assassinato de Chico Mendes - Arquivo/Agência Brasil was the second most deforested among the Legal Amazon Conservation Units in July according to data from the Imazon Institute With 30 square kilometers of native forest devasted the reserve was created in 1990 and is home to around 3,000 families The conservation unit is named after Chico Mendes a rubber tapper leader and trade union leader murdered in 1988 for his struggle to preserve the Amazon rainforest the coordinator of the Chico Mendes Committee and environmental leader's daughter claims that the florest is under attack on a wide array of fronts There is a bill on the National Congress that seeks to reduce the limits of the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve by 222 square kilometers The song is "Diary of a Detainee" a chronicle of an imprisoned man on the day of the worst slaughter in the history of brazil prison system we have a a dish widely consumed in the Middle East: dry curd You can learn how to cook it with our quick and pratical cooking recipe All What's Happening in Brazil episodes are available at Brasil de Fato's YouTube channel, where you'll also find a special English-content playlist. Partners who wish to include a longer version of the show in their schedule may contact our international team at [email protected]. For more news about Brazil and our region, visit our website. All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced, provided it is not altered and proper credit is given. All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced, provided it is not altered and proper credit is given. The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. © Copyright Down To Earth 2025. All rights reserved. Raimundo Mendes de Barros prepares to cut a Seringueira rubber tree. (Reuters: Ricardo Moraes) Link copiedShareShare articleAs Brazil's Government distributes 9 million condoms for free around Rio de Janeiro during the Olympics, a push to encourage safe sex will also help to protect the Amazon rainforest. All of the condoms to be distributed are produced by a factory in the western Amazonian state of Acre, deep in the rainforest in Xapuri, near Brazil's border with Bolivia. It is run by the Acre State Government and uses latex gathered from rubber trees by "tappers", also employed in a Government-run program designed to protect their traditional livelihood, foster the sustainable use of the rainforest and deter illegal loggers. The tappers see themselves as guardians of the rainforest. On a recent outing, Raimundo Mendes de Barros, a 71-year-old lifelong rubber tapper with a stark white beard, gathered the milky-white latex dripping into metal buckets hooked at the base of countless trees. "It gives the world a product, the condom, that will be very present there in Rio to fight disease and help with birth control," he said. Condoms are tested at a plant close to the source of the rubber in Xapuri. (Reuters: Ricardo Moraes) For several years, Brazil's Health Ministry has distributed millions of condoms from the factory for free at big events around Brazil, most notably the annual bacchanal of Carnival. And for decades, tappers like Mr Barros have been on the front line of pushing Brazilian leaders to do more to halt deforestation, which is mostly caused by the illegal clearing of forest for ranching, soy farms and timber extraction. The fight has sometimes come at a heavy cost as farmers and loggers have sometimes retaliated with hired guns. Scores of people have been killed over the years trying to protect the forest, most notably the internationally-known environmentalist and rubber tapper Chico Mendes. His 1988 murder in Xapuri, where the condom factory now stands, helped galvanise the Government to take serious measures to battle deforestation and violence against the Amazon's defenders. Mr Barros spoke with pride about the fierce fight he and other sustainable rubber tappers waged to maintain their craft. Rio's local Olympic organising committee said about 450,000 of the sustainably-produced condoms will be destined for athletes and staff housed in the Olympic Village. The rest will be made widely available to the many visitors who will be arriving in the city in just a few weeks, the Health Ministry said. CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) What are these? ' + liveStatsFacts[Math.floor(Math.random()*liveStatsFacts.length)] + ' Most Popular Now | 56,514 people are reading stories on the site right now.";