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Arts educator & eco-activist assassinated in Brazil

Posted on June 4, 2011 | No Comments

Maria do Espírito Santo and her husband, José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva fought against illegal loggers and had received death threats but were refused police protection. They were killed in an ambush near their home in Nova Ipixuna, in Pará state on May 23, 2011. In a speech at a TEDx event in Manaus, in November, Da Silva spoke of his fears that loggers would try to silence them. “I could be here today talking to you and in one month you will get the news that I disappeared. I will protect the forest at all costs. That is why I could get a bullet in my head at any moment … because I denounce the loggers and charcoal Ray Ban outlet producers, and that is why they think I cannot exist. [People] ask me, ‘are you afraid?’ Yes, I’m a human being, of course I am afraid. But my fear does not silence me. As long as I have the strength to walk I will denounce all of those who damage the forest.”