French priest fears for life in Brazil

[struggle4progress]

BY TYLER BRIDGES

Herald Staff

XINGUARA, Brazil - As the sunlight began to fade, Henri des Roziers, a French Roman Catholic priest, stood next to a grave in a town near here and admitted that the killings that characterize land disputes deep in the Amazon sometimes cause him to question his faith in God. <snip>

In the aftermath of the cold-blooded murder of an American nun, Sister Dorothy Stang, des Roziers, 75, who doubles as an attorney for landless peasants, has emerged as the next most likely target of big landowners bent on destroying the rain forest to create cattle pastures.

The price for killing him, according to local news accounts: 100,000 Brazilian reais, about $38,000. That's double the amount that's thought to have been paid for Stang's murder. <snip>

Those who attempt to thwart the large landowners put their lives on the line. The government has little presence here. Disputes are settled with guns, and powerful criminals rarely face justice. <snip>

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/11414863.htm