Word: chico
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...hour drive from the nearest major airport. And yet this week, normally tranquil Xapuri (pop. 6,000) is being invaded by 3,000 visitors from the surrounding territory and around the globe. They have come to witness a long-awaited event: the trial of two men accused of murdering Chico Mendes. In fact, everyone who cares about environmental issues is watching to see whether justice will prevail in the case of the humble rubber tapper whose defense of the Amazon rain forest made him a world-renowned martyr...
...local people claim, just a show for the international media? No, argues Brazilian Environment Secretary Jose Lutzenberger, who sees the trial as a clear demonstration that his country will protect the rain forest, along with the rubber tappers (seringueiros) and Indians who depend upon the trees for their livelihood. "Chico Mendes did not die in vain," he says. "We must and will put a stop to ecological crimes...
...region's more powerful landowners and politicians. "Putting the Da Silvas in jail is not the solution," says Rosa Maria Roldan of the National Council of Rubber Tappers. "The only real way justice will be served is if the government gets to the roots of who was behind Chico's death." Roldan and others fear that once the trial is over and the spotlight gone, the violence against rubber tappers will resume...
...without destroying the forest. Earlier this year, Brazil created its first such refuge, named after Mendes, in the Jurua River valley near Xapuri. Since then, the government has established three more. In those areas at least, the people of the Amazon have a better chance to survive, thanks to Chico Mendes...
...Chico Mendes' alleged killers finally reach trial, but a conviction would not end the fight between ranchers and rubber tappers in the rain forest...