Source: Monsters and Critics.com
Brasilia - Military and federal police officers are to be deployed in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest from next week to stop a wave of violence that claimed the lives of at least five peasants in recent days.
The most recent killing happened Wednesday. Peasant Marcos Gomes da Silva was ambushed in Eldorado de Carajas, in the state of Para.
Brazilian Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardoso said Friday that President Dilma Rousseff made the decision after meeting with her advisors. The goal, Cardoso said, is 'not to let new murders happen, and also to investigate the crimes that have already been committed.'
The wave of killings started on May 24, when peasant leader Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria do Espirito Santo da Silva, were killed in an attack in the Para toen of Nova Ipixuna. They had both frequently clashed with illegal logging companies.
Three days later, peasant Adelino Ramos was killed in the neighbouring state of Rondonia. Like the Silvas, he had complained of illegal logging in the area.
On May 28, peasant Eremilton Pereira dos Santos was killed, also in Nova Ipixuna.
Police are still to identify the killers, and say there is no indication that the crimes are linked to disputes between peasants and logging companies.
Amnesty International, the human rights organization, asked the Brazilian government Thursday to stop the killings of peasants and environmental activists in the Amazon rainforest.
The Pastoral Commission on Land (CPT), with ties to the Brazilian Roman Catholic Church, made public this week a list with the names of 165 peasant and environmental leaders who received death threats 2000-2010.
The CPT added that, over the past 25 years, 1,581 people have been killed in rural parts of Brazil. The state of Para is the most violent in the country in this respect, the CPT said, and witnessed last year 18 such killings, more than half of Brazil's total of 34.
