Amazon rainforest activist shot dead | World news. Six months after predicting his own murder, a leading rainforest defender has reportedly been gunned down in the Brazilian Amazon. José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria do Espírito Santo, are said to have been killed in an ambush near their home in Nova Ipixuna, in Pará state, about 37 miles from Marabá. According to a local newspaper, Diário do Pará, the couple had not had police protection despite getting frequent death threats because of their battle against illegal loggers and ranchers. On Tuesday there were conflicting reports from about whether the killing happened on Monday night or Tuesday morning. A police spokesperson said there were reports of a "double homicide" at the settlement called Maçaranduba 2. In a speech at a TEDx event in Manaus, in November, Da Silva spoke of his fears that loggers would try to silence him. "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. Stop the Belo Monte Monster Dam! Brésil : Les pluies diluviennes font des centaines de morts | International. Des dizaines de maisons ont été ensevelies sous la boue et des familles entières sont mortes pendant leur sommeil, relate Serge Boire. Plus de 520 personnes ont péri dans la région montagneuse près de Rio de Janeiro après les pluies diluviennes des derniers jours, selon un nouveau bilan des autorités.
C'est ce que rapportent les médias brésiliens. Ils parlent maintenant de « la plus grande catastrophe naturelle » du pays. La catastrophe dépasse celle de Caraguatatuba, sur le littoral nord de Sao Paulo, qui était jusqu'à maintenant la plus meurtrière, avec 436 morts en 1967. Selon un décompte effectué par le site G1 du groupe de presse Globo, les inondations et éboulements ont fait 506 morts. Sous l'effet de pluies diluviennes, des pans entiers de montagne se sont effondrés, transportant des tonnes de boue qui se sont déversées dans la nuit de mercredi, vers 3 h, heure locale, sur les localités de Teresopolis, Petropolis et Nova Friburgo. Le bilan des inondations au Brésil atteint 700 morts - Monde. Photo of the day: chief Raoni crying. Rainforest activist asks for protection after death threats | Environment.
Raimundo Francisco Belmiro dos Santos, a defender of the Amazon jungle, has requested urgent protection from the authorities in Brazil after reporting that a number of hired gunmen are looking for him, because landowners in the northern state of Pará have offered a 50,000 dollar contract for his death. Belmiro dos Santos is a 46-year-old "seringueiro" or rubber tapper who fears for his life and the lives of his family, after receiving numerous threats for his activism against the destruction of the Amazon jungle. "My life is really complicated today, because they have put a price on my head, and say that I will be killed before the end of the year," the activist told IPS in an anguished voice by telephone from the Riozinho do Anfrísio reserve, where he lives. It takes several days to reach the reserve by river from the nearest city, Altamira, which is 800 km from Belém, the capital of the state of Pará.
But dos Santos says he will continue to return to his home. Third environmentalist killed in a week in Brazil's Amazon Rainforest region.