Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes, he was a Brazilian rubber collector and since 1975 Secretary General of the Union of Rural Workers of Brasileia.
In his life Chico was an important activist and environmentalist , who has fought all his life against the deforestation of the Amazonian forest.
For this activism, in the late seventies he received numerous threats from some militias operating in the area, who carried out private security activities, some local owners linked to various multinationals who had received concessions from the Brazilian government for the exploitation of the forest land Amazonian (to the detriment of local farmers and the Amazon forest itself).
These threats materialized in several charges, which brought Chico Mendes to court, first on the charge of murder of Wilson Pinheiro, leader of an opposing trade union organization, and in two other trials, on charges of inciting violence. and three cases Chico Mendes was acquitted for lack of evidence, but in the course of the trial for the murder of Pinheiro, over 40 owners of Xapuri (mainly indigenous residents) were convicted.
In 1987, Chico Mendes’s activism brought in the Xapuri region a United Nations delegation that directly verified the allegations made by activists against US multinationals behind the deforestation projects. The verifications by the United Nations were followed by about 40 days of political campaign also in the United States, and in that context Chico Mendes was called to speak before the United States Senate on 'America and as a result of this question to the Senate, the Bank of Interamerican Development decided to withdraw its investments in the Amazon.
This is an important victory for Chico Mendes and for the rural workers who, due to deforestation projects, were forced to leave the forest.
The murder of Chico Mendes
Unfortunately, this victory was short-lived and on December 22, 1988, Chico Mendes was assassinated. Investigations led to Darly Alves da Silva, a landowner who owned a large ranche and rancher of roast beavers, with whom Chico had clashed in several occasions.
Darly da Silva was eventually convicted , in December 1990 as instigator of the murder of Chico Mendes and his son, Darci da Silva, was indicated by the investigators as a material executor . The two Rancheros were sentenced to 19 years.
The news of the da silva resulted in a wave of strong enthusiasm in the Xapuri region, as it was the first sentence handed down for the murder of a union leader and activist for the protection of the territory and small farmers.
During the seventies and eighties hundreds of people, like Chico Mendes, had been murdered because they opposed deforestation and Chico seemed to be the first for whom a sentence had been reached.
The enthusiasm for the condemnation of the da Silvas died out after a few months, when, in 1991, it was realized that the murders would not end. Furthermore, in February 1992, the Rio Branco State Court of Appeal overturned the sentence by Darly Alves da Silva.
The annulment of the sentence was read as the definitive defeat of the indigenous and rural workers and of the protection of the Amazon rainforest.
The story of Chico Mendes is one of the countless stories of dead men for the Indians and the Amazon forest, but, unlike many others, the echo of his death spread all over the world, thanks to numerous tributes, especially musical, from artists around the world, from Paul McCartney which he dedicated to the memory of Chico Mendes How Many Peopole , to the Nomads which, in their latest album with Augusto Daolio , in 1991 they published “ remember Chico “, A song that tells the story and memory of Chico Mendes.