Brazil Forest Reserves Created after Nun Murder

More than 60 groups signed a letter to curb violence in association with illegal occupation of land and deforestation in Para (nearly twice the size of Texas) and the Amazon.

Responding to the letter and to pressure from environmentalists and the public, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a decree that will create an 8.15 million acre reserve and national park where 73-year old Nun Dorothy Strang was shot to death in a dispute with a powerful rancher.

February 18, 2005

ANAPU, Brazil — Brazil’s president ordered the creation of two massive new rain forest reserves Thursday amid increasing pressure to protect a lawless Amazon region from violent loggers and ranchers after the killing last weekend of an American nun who fought to protect the jungle.

Decrees signed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will form a reserve of 8.15 million acres and a national park of 1.1 million acres in the state of Para, where 73-year-old Dorothy Stang was shot to death in a dispute with a powerful rancher.

“We can’t give in to people committing acts of violence,” said Environment Minister Marina Silva, who announced the decrees. “The government is putting the brakes on in front of the predators.”

Stang, a naturalized Brazilian originally from Dayton, Ohio, was attacked Saturday in a settlement 30 miles from Anapu, which is located in Para. A witness said she read from a Bible after being confronted by the gunman and was then shot six times at close range.

The decrees were announced after more than 60 groups signed a letter to the president demanding strong moves to curb “violence and impunity associated with the illegal occupation of lands and…

Posted by BoomBoom
Boom Boom is Bambi's Sockpuppet Sonoma County, CA native; Activist since 1967 Grandmother to three, Mother to two; Matriarch to my family & friends; Dual Citizenship: California & Oregon