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Brazil weighs action after Amazon activists' murders Brazil 'to step up Amazon activists' protection'
(1 day later)
Brazilian authorities have called an emergency meeting after three Amazon environmental activists were murdered. The Brazilian authorities say they are ready to offer increased protection to environmental activists considered most at risk after receiving death threats.
Among steps being considered is co-ordinated action by the federal and state governments in key areas, Brazilian media reported. Ministers held an emergency meeting on violence in the Amazon, where three activists were killed last week.
On Friday, rural leader Adelino Ramos was shot dead in the state of Rondonia, just days after two campaigners were killed in Para state. "We will not accept these murders," said Rural Development Minister Afonso Florence.
All three, who worked to stop illegal logging, had received death threats. The Catholic Church's Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) has a list of 125 activists who have been threatened.
Mr Ramos, widely known as Dinho, was shot by a motorist as he sold vegetables in Rondonia's capital, Porto Velho. Justice Minister Luiz Paulo Barreto said they would analyse the CPT's information and respond on a case-by-case basis.
The Catholic Church's Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) said Mr Ramos had denounced illegal loggers in the states of Acre, Amazonas and Rondonia, and called for a camp to be set up to house rural workers forced off their land. At their meeting in the capital, Brasilia, on Monday, ministers agreed to increase co-operation between the federal and state governments.
Mr Ramos had survived a bloody dispute in 1995, when 300 or so police officers opened fire on a landless workers' camp near the town of Corumbiara, killing at least 10 people. "We will intensify monitoring and investigation and strengthen actions leading to sustainable development in the region," Mr Florence told reporters.
His murder followed the killing on 24 May of a husband and wife team, Joao Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espirito Santo, near the city of Maraba. Threats and violence
The couple's bodies were found inside a nature reserve, Praialta-Piranheira, where they had been working for the past 24 years. The talks came after three campaigners were killed in the Amazon.
According to family and friends, the pair had been subjected to numerous threats in the past two years for their environmental activism. On Friday, rural leader Adelino Ramos was shot dead in Porto Velho, capital of Rondonia.
On Saturday, farmer Eremilton Pereira dos Santos was found shot dead in the same area as the couple. The CPT said Mr Ramos had denounced illegal loggers in the states of Acre, Amazonas and Rondonia.
However, police say there is no link between the murders. He had survived a bloody dispute in 1995, when some 300 police officers opened fire on a landless workers' camp near the town of Corumbiara, killing at least 10 people.
Monday's meeting in Brasilia is set to bring together different departments to discuss the latest violence. On 24 May, the bodies of Joao Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espirito Santo were found on a nature reserve, Praialta-Piranheira near Maraba, where they had been working for the past 24 years.
"It's a complicated picture in that region, which has high levels of deforestation, violence and murders. We are going to propose a co-ordinated action between the federal and state governments," Roberto Vizentin, Brazil's interim environment minister, told the Globo website. According to family and friends, the couple had received numerous threats in the past two years for their environmental activism.
On Saturday, farmer Eremilton Pereira dos Santos was found shot dead in the same area as the couple. Police said there was no link between the murders.
The CPT says that over the last decade, 1,855 people have received death threats. Of these, 42 were murdered and another 30 had actual attempts on their lives.
"In the Amazon, killing and clearing (the forest) go hand in hand," the CPT said in a statement, calling on the government to do more to tackle the violence.