Who Killed Chico Mendez – The Suspects
Darley Alves (Cattle Rancher) made money by destroying the rainforest to make space to rear cattle. The beef from the cattle was then exported all over the world as beef burgers.
Chico protested and was successful in preventing cattle ranchers from continuing to deforest areas to graze cattle. One of his campaigns stopped Darley Alves, among others, from logging an area and as a result Darley lost a lot of money that he would have raised from exporting beef around the world.
Aldebio da Silva (Owner of logging company) was illegally selling Mahogany wood to the UK. 80% of the Mahogany wood sold in the UK comes from the Amazon Rainforest.
Aldebio da Silva was starting to get concerned that Chico may find out about his illegal logging of mahogany wood, which he sells to the UK. He was worried about the trouble that he would get in if this news was made public.
Ovido Roberto (Dam builder)
A multi-million pound dam was in the planning stages on the Rio Grande which would power a hydroelectric power station. If the plans went ahead Ovido could make a lot of money.
Dams destroy ecosystems as they hold back valuable nutrients causing erosion. Chico gave a lot of publicity to the negative affects the dam would have on the rainforest and prevented the plans from going ahead. Ovido therefore lost money.
Francisco de Sousa (Peasant Farmer)
Francisco had been forced to move by the government when a logging company had taken his land; he had resettled in another part of the rainforest. He was not very successful on his new small farm and knew he would have to move to another area after a few years. This was called ‘shifting cultivation’ – ranchers kept having to move to new areas and clear more rainforest.
Chico has highlighted the problems of shifting cultivators and how they were destroying the forest. He managed to protect much of the rainforest preventing the farmers from getting anymore land to farm. This meant that many farmers lost their jobs and struggled to get an income to feed their families.
Jose Fernandez (Minister for Brazil’s Economy)
Jose was a very successful member of the government who was known to be cruel when dealing with people who got in his way. He wanted to build a road across the rainforest to encourage people to settle there and use the land for industry. Brazil had huge international debts and a severe unemployment problem at the time. Industries that use resources from the rainforest would provide jobs for people in Brazil and make the country richer. Jose knew that in order to stay in power he would have to improve Brazil’s economy.
Chico got support from America to slow down the government’s attempts to open up the Rainforest for industry. He prevented the government from making money for the country and providing jobs for the people.
Luis Franco (Road Construction Worker)
Luis had 6 children and lives in a wooden shack. He had not worked for 5 years until he got the job of building a road through the rainforest so lorries could get to the mines and logs transported out.
Luis Franco was worried that the road building may be halted as Chico was arguing that the road destroyed too much forest. Franco couldn’t afford to lose his job as his children were sick and he couldn’t afford the medical bills.
Franco Quadros (Owner of Bauxite Mining Company)
Franco owned a mine in the rainforest for bauxite, (the raw material used to make aluminium). In order to mine the bauxite, some of the rainforest needed to be cut down and Franco kept helping himself to more and more land from the rainforest.
Franco Quadros has friends in high places and often has Jose Fernandez, the minister for the economy to pool parties at his mansion. Chico had complained that the mine was expanding and using too much of the rainforest. He also noticed that it was polluting the surrounding rivers.
Fernando Gonzales (Brazilian Medical Researcher)
Ferando devoted his life to studying the plants and the trees in the Amazon to inform his medical research. He continued to find many benefits from the many different species of plants in the Amazon Rainforest.
Fernando worried that a cure for AIDS and cancer may already have been destroyed through deforestation. He wanted to prevent more deforestation in order to continue his study of the rainforest biodiversity for medical research.
Silvio Perez (Rubber Tapper)
Silvio was dependent on his trees in order to feed his family. He has been a rubber tapper for many years and it was the only was that he could make any money. He used the trees in a sustainable way so that he could take and sell the rubber without killing the trees.
Rubber trees in the Amazon were being cut down as the value of rubber went down and companies wanted to make money quicker in other ways. Silvio’s livelihood depended on the rubber trees as without them he would not have a job.
Frederico Diaz (Environmental Scientist)
Frederico was concerned about Global Warming and spent his lifetime doing research about the growing threat it faced. Cutting down and burning the forest puts more carbon dioxide in to the air which absorbs the heat from the sun and makes the temperature rise.
Global warming makes ice all over the world melt, putting more water into the seas and oceans. As the seas rise places near the coast may disappear under water. Frederico was studying the impact of rainforest destruction for the future and was desperately trying to make other people understand the importance of saving the forests.
Roberto Perez (Amazonian Tribal Member)
Roberto had lived peacefully in the rainforest for generations. He and his family had lived without harming their habitat. They had their own system of land management for thousands of years before people moved to the rainforest.
Although the Amazonian tribal people had lived on the Rainforest land for many generations, others did not think that they had the right to the land and so they were forced to move from their home when the forests are cut down. They found it increasingly difficult to survive in new places that were strange to them.
Francesco Torres ( Biologist)
Francesco devoted his life to studying biodiversity in the Amazon Rainforest. He writes numerous books from his research in the Rainforest to educate others about plant life.
The Amazon is home to 30% of the world’s animals and plant life. Much of this was being destroyed and lost forever and biologists were desperate to protect it.