Chico Mendes

Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes (December 15, 1944 – December 22, 1988), was a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist. He fought to stop the logging of the Amazon Rainforest to clear land for cattle ranching, and founded a national union of rubber tappers in an attempt to preserve their profession and the rainforest that it relied upon. He was murdered in 1988 by ranchers opposed to his activism. He is survived by three children (Angela, Elenira, and Sandino Mendes).

At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity.

History

Mendes grew up in a family of rubber tappers in Acre State, Brazil, and when he was of age (9 years old), continued on in the family tradition. However, rubber prices had collapsed in the 1960s, and many landowners were selling their properties to the highest bidder - which in most cases, meant cattle ranchers. Rubber tappers were finding themselves pushed out of their lands.

In the 1970s, he joined the rubber tappers of the forest. They would march down logging trails, overrun forest clearance parties, disarming guards and attempting to convince the ranchers' workers not to continue. In many cases, they were successful at doing so, despite resistance from the ranchers - in 1980, Mendes' ally Wilson Pinheiro was assassinated.

Founding of unions

Chico Mendes then began to move into a more mainstream political arena. He stood successfully for the local council in Xapuri. He was a leading local member of the then socialist Workers Party (PT). He advocated the idea of creating forest reserves that would be managed by traditional communities, and sustainably harvesting goods such as rubber and Brazil nuts. He saw benefit in uniting the rubber tappers in an attempt to hold their ground against the ranchers, and founded the Xapuri Rural Workers' Union, becoming its President. Over the next few years, Mendes and the union had some successes, and he decided that it would be beneficial to unite all the Brazilian tappers in one union.

When the first meeting of this new union, the National Council of Rubber Tappers, was held in 1985, in the capital, Brasilia, rubber tappers from all over the country came. Many had never been outside their local area before. He succeeded in educating many about the issues of deforestation, road paving, cattle ranching, and the threats to their own livelihoods. The meeting also had the effect of catching the attention of the international environmentalist movement, and highlighting their plight to a larger audience. He chose to align himself and the union with environmentalism, rather than Marxism. In November that year, English filmmaker Adrian Cowell made a documentary about Mendes.

Individual activism

In 1987, after being contacted by the Environmental Defense and National Wildlife Federation, Mendes flew to Washington D.C. in an attempt to convince the Inter-American Development Bank that their road project in his area would end in disaster, unless it took into consideration the preservation of the forest and the livelihoods of its inhabitants. He was successful, with the project first being postponed, and then, with his participation, renegotiated. He won two international environmental awards for this. On his return, he met with General Bayma Denys, the Minister of the Military Cabinet of the Presidency, and used the opportunity to push his ideas for reserves.

In 1988, Mendes launched a campaign to stop rancher Darly Alves da Silva from logging an area that was planned a reserve. Mendes not only managed to stop the planned deforestation and create the reserve, but also gained a warrant for Darly's arrest, for a murder committed in another state. He delivered the warrant to the federal police, but it was never acted upon.

Assassination

On the evening in Thursday, December 22, 1988, exactly one week after his 44th birthday, Chico Mendes was assassinated by gunshot at his Xapuri home. In December, 1990 rancher Darcy Alves Pereira and his son Darli Alves were sentenced to 19 years in prison for their part in Mendes' assassination. In February, 1992, they won a retrial, but remained in prison. In 1993, they staged an escape, but Darcy was recaptured and as of 2004, was still in the jungle.

The murder of Chico Mendes made international headlines, including the front page of the New York Times. Thanks in part to the international media attention surrounding the murder, the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve was created in the area where he lived. There are more than 20 such reserves now, along the same lines as Mendes had proposed, covering more than 8 million acres (32,000 km²).

Although it is most commonly thought that cattle ranchers were responsible for his death, others have theorized that illegal loggers, plantation owners, or miners were responsible for his murder[1].

Legacy

Mendes was played by Raúl Juliá in the 1994 TV movie The Burning Season (in portuguese, Amazônia em Chamas), directed by the film maker John Frankenheimer and based on the award-winning book of the same name by Andrew Revkin. In the cast, Sônia Braga, Edward James Olmos and Kamala Lopez-Dawson also feature. Today the movie is available in VHS and DVD formats. It was one of Juliá's last performances before his death in the same year; he posthumously won a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Mendes. Altogether the film won three Golden Globe awards and two Emmys.

Mendes has been the subject of a songs:

How Many People by Paul McCartney on his 1989 album Flowers in the Dirt
Cuando los Angeles Lloran by Mexican rock band Maná
Ricordati di Chico by Italian rock band Nomadi
Chico Mendes by Italian folk band Gang
The Tallest Tree by English singer-songwriter Roy Harper
Mentioned in Amazon by Australian singer-songwriter Bruce Watson
Cited in Sacred Ground by Living Colour

A memorial garden in Mendes' honor was constructed in Los Angeles, but was controversially demolished in 1997.

In 2004, the fish species Astyanax chico was named "in honor to Francisco Alves "Chico" Mendes, a leader of rubber tappers who was a defender of the Amazonian rainforest."

A bar in the Student Union of the University of Hull was named in his honour.[2]

Chico Mendes left a big legacy and he was a caring guy and he was a strong man.

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