TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/121790/1217330.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.5 KB | 124 lines

                                                                                ENVIRONMENT, Page 76

Justice Comes to the Amazon


But convicting the alleged killers of Chico Mendes would not end
the fight between ranchers and rubber tappers in the rain
forest

By ANDREA DORFMAN -- Reported by John Maier Jr./Rio de Janeiro


    The little-known town in the remote western Amazon has just
four dingy guesthouses and 450 phone lines and lies a rugged
five-hour drive from the nearest major airport. And yet this
week, normally tranquil Xapuri (pop. 6,000) is being invaded
by 3,000 visitors from the surrounding territory and around the
globe. They have come to witness a long-awaited event: the
trial of two men accused of murdering Chico Mendes. In fact,
everyone who cares about environmental issues is watching to
see whether justice will prevail in the case of the humble
rubber tapper whose defense of the Amazon rain forest made him
a world-renowned martyr.

    But is the proceeding, as many of the local people claim,
just a show for the international media? No, argues Brazilian
Environment Secretary Jose Lutzenberger, who sees the trial as
a clear demonstration that his country will protect the rain
forest, along with the rubber tappers (seringueiros) and
Indians who depend upon the trees for their livelihood. "Chico
Mendes did not die in vain," he says. "We must and will put a
stop to ecological crimes."

    For decades, ever widening patches of the Amazon have been
burned or cut down by developers building towns, ranchers
raising cattle, companies going after timber and settlers
trying to grow crops. Mendes was among those forest dwellers
who realized that their way of life was slowly being snuffed
out. So in 1975, he organized a rural workers' union. To stop
the deforestation, union members and their families formed
human blockades around areas scheduled to be cleared. These
Gandhiesque acts, called empates, helped save thousands of acres
but also made Mendes unpopular with landowners and local
officials.

    Two men accused of killing him -- Darly Alves da Silva, 56,
a wealthy Xapuri rancher, and his son Darci, 24 -- were the
targets of one of Mendes' last empates, in March 1988. After
the confrontation, Mendes, who had allegedly been threatened
many times by the elder Da Silva, feared for his life and
alerted the police. But on Dec. 22, 1988, Mendes was struck
down by a single shotgun blast as he stepped out the back door
of his home. His police bodyguards were inside playing
dominoes. Mendes was 44.

    Though his accomplishments were virtually unknown outside
the conservation community, the shot that killed him echoed
around the world. His widow Ilzamar, now 25, was soon traveling
to the U.S. and other countries to accept posthumous awards
showered on Mendes by environmental groups. She sold the rights
to his story for more than $1 million. Producer David Puttnam
will make a movie; numerous books, TV documentaries and
magazine articles are in the works.

    Meanwhile, justice has moved relatively slowly in Xapuri.
Though the Da Silvas were arrested within weeks of the murder,
the case was delayed as the defense made a variety of motions
and investigators questioned more than 50 people, accumulating
some 2,200 pages of statements. Almost all those involved in
the case -- including the judge, Mendes family members,
seringueiro leaders, the lawyers and the Da Silvas -- have
received death threats.

    Of the dozen people expected to testify during the trial,
the key prosecution witness is 16-year-old Genesio Barbosa da
Silva (no relation to the defendants), a former Da Silva ranch
hand. He told police that he overheard the younger Da Silva
plan and then boast of Mendes' murder. Several other people
have said they heard both Da Silvas threaten Mendes and the
seringueiros. And the son confessed to the shooting, although
he later retracted the statement.

    Those familiar with the Mendes case, including the lawyers,
believe the verdict is in. "I would be very surprised --
shocked, is more like it -- if the jury does not find them
guilty," says Marcio Thomaz Bastos, the chief prosecutor.
Defense lawyer Joao Lucena Leal considers acquittal so unlikely
that he is preparing an appeal. "It is going to be impossible
to have a fair trial," Leal says. "With the eyes of the world
on Xapuri, what you are going to witness is two men who had
nothing to do with the killing being sacrificed." If convicted,
the Da Silvas could receive sentences of 12 to 30 years.

    That will not satisfy the seringueiros, who think Mendes'
death was the product of a conspiracy that included some of the
region's more powerful landowners and politicians. "Putting the
Da Silvas in jail is not the solution," says Rosa Maria Roldan
of the National Council of Rubber Tappers. "The only real way
justice will be served is if the government gets to the roots
of who was behind Chico's death." Roldan and others fear that
once the trial is over and the spotlight gone, the violence
against rubber tappers will resume.

    Whatever happens, Mendes' message did not go unheard. One
of his aims was to create reserves in which rubber tappers and
Indians could live off the land without destroying the forest.
Earlier this year, Brazil created its first such refuge, named
after Mendes, in the Jurua River valley near Xapuri. Since
then, the government has established three more. In those areas
at least, the people of the Amazon have a better chance to
survive, thanks to Chico Mendes.