'Broad conspiracy' behind nun's killing in Brazil

[emad]

Gareth Chetwynd in Rio de Janeiro
Saturday April 2, 2005
The Guardian

A Brazilian congressional panel investigating the murder of a revered American nun has found evidence that a broader conspiracy between loggers, ranchers and officials is behind a wave of violence against peasant farmers and environmental activists in the Amazon state of Para.

A senate panel concluded that four people arrested for the murder of Sister Dorothy Stang are merely the most visible elements in an intricate chain of interests whose use of violence has given them almost unbridled power in a notoriously lawless region.

Stang, who was born in Ohio, was a naturalised Brazilian who had spent the past 23 years protecting the rainforest and promoting sustainable development projects among peasant farmers as an alternative to the predatory exploitation of natural resources.
Like many of her colleagues, Stang had received numerous death threats. She was killed in February by two gunmen.

According to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) of Brazil's Catholic Church, about half the country's 1,237 land-related killings in the past 30 years occurred in Para, but convictions have been rare.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/brazil/story/0,12462,1450742,00.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Progress in this killing, after all!

Very glad to read this article: looks as if they're getting somewhere now.

The federal police have been drawn into the case, and are carrying out a parallel investigation into wider conspiracy claims thrown up by the panel.

The rancher accused of hiring Stang's killers, Vitalmiro Moura, has given himself up to federal police. He accused at least one local police officer of accepting protection money from ranchers who helped to finance the murder.

Mr Moura has denied hiring the two gunmen but has named other people he claims could be involved.

A recent increase in violence has been attributed to rising land prices, as vast areas are turned over to soya farming and cattle ranching, but some activists believe that ranchers are reacting to the more assertive stance taken by peasants since Mr Lula da Silva came to power.
(snip/)

In the end, something good may come from that poor woman's violent sacrifice, as the attention drawn to these people may get them all into prison. Can always hope.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks for posting -- what a tragic outrage...

was the murder of this woman! And it looks like the motive, as expected, was greed.

[Frederik]

3. That can't be true

because conspiracies don't happen. :sarcasm:

[lostnfound]

4. "Convictions rare": 12 out of 500 according to Flashpoints

Anyone interested in story can listen to Flashpoints segment on it; which starts at 23 minutes into this file:
http://www.kpfa.org/cgi-bin/gen-mpegurl.m3u?server=209.81.10.18&port=80&mount=/data/20050307-Mon1700.mp3

[struggle4progress]

5. kick