American nun shot to death in Brazil

[DoYouEverWonder]

Feb 12, 7:00 PM EST

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- An American nun was shot to death in northern Brazil on Saturday, less then a week after she accused loggers and ranchers of threatening to kill rural workers, authorities said.

Dorothy Stang, 74, was shot in the face three times near the town of Anapu, about 2,100 kilometers north of Sao Paulo in the Amazon region, federal police officer Fernando Raiol said.

Stang, who had lived in Brazil since 1996 and worked in the region for more than 20 years, was headed to a meeting with local peasants when her group was attacked, police said.

Two suspects had already been taken into custody, police said.

Stang, of Dayton, Ohio, had lobbied forcefully against efforts by loggers and large landowners to expropriate lands and clear large areas of the Amazon rainforest.

"She was basically protected by her status as being an old lady and being a nun. She also recently became a Brazilian citizen, and she thought that would help but it obviously didn't," said her niece Angela Mason, who lives in Dayton, Ohio. She said Stang had told them there was a price on her head.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BRAZIL_MISSIONARY_KILLED?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME

[burrowowl]

1. Northen Brazil is

a rough area for social justice and environmental workers. Very sad!
RIP Sister Dorothy!

[Stepup2]

2. This is sad

An old woman living her faith and holding back the forces of destruction, while the pseduo religious folk here are busy chasing shadow issues.

veritas odium parit, pax vobiscum

[98geoduck]

3. A warning to traveling in N Brazil. Don't wear your Greenpeace T shirt.

A large number of people feel threatened by groups seeking to "control" their resources. Basically, they feel they have the same right to destroy their forests, as Europe and the U.S. has. (right of passage to economic growth).

[Judi Lynn]

4. Church people, human rights workers, teachers, union people are targets

and live in peril, as we have seen, wherever wealthy business owners and factions can buy politicians and mold the law to suit their purposes.

From the article:

Last June, Stang was honored by the state of Para for her work in the Amazon region. In December, she received an award from the Brazilian Bar Association for her work helping the local rural workers.

"She was awesome. A little old bundle of joy," Mason said. "She was the happiest person. She needed nothing. She just loved the people down there."
(snip/)

She has been a person with a higher calling than "growing" her own wealth. She has briefly told the world there are some good Americans, still.

[leftchick]

10. Thank you for posting her photo Judi Lynn

may she rest in peace. What a wonderful human being. :(

[bpilgrim]

5. our $$$ probably paid for the bullets

and our Intel probably provided he location

:cry:

peace

[AngryOldDem]

25. That's what I'm wondering

Don't know if South Americans come up here to get SOA training, but this smells exactly like the tactics pulled by SOA-trained militia in Central America.

It stinks. Big.

EDIT: Spelling error

[Tinoire]

6. R.I.P. Dorothy

Pax tecum

&resize=full

Stang, who had lived in Brazil for more than three decades, recently won a human rights award from a Brazilian lawyers group. The state of Para named her woman of the year.

==========

(snip)

The Brazilian government compared the murder with the 1988 killing of Chico Mendes, the renowned rubber tapper who drew international attention to Amazon rainforest destruction.

``It's the type of crime that shows a profound disrespect for a democratic society, like the crime against Chico Mendes,'' Justice Minister Marcio Thomaz Bastos told the Estado news agency.

The Catholic Church's Land Pastoral in Brazil, an organization that helps landless farmers, condemned the incident as an ``assassination.''

(snip)

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ordered a thorough investigation into Stang's murder.

(snip)

Stang was a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, an international Catholic religious order of about 2,000 women in five continents.

(snip)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4796650,00.html



(snip)

She recently won a human rights award from the OAB for reporting abuses by land speculators, illegal loggers and large landowners in the area.

Only weeks ago she warned federal human rights authorities she faced continual death threats for her work. She was on an OAB list of people who faced possible assassination.

(snip)

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3186101a12,00.html

====
November 4, 2004

URGENT ACTION APPEAL ON BEHALF OF SR DOROTHY STANG
Servico Brasileiro de Justica e Paz

SEJUP received a request from a religious congregation working in the North of the country. The following is a statement prepared by the congregation's leadership for distribution to the media and the public in Brazil:

Sister Dorothy Stang, a 73 year old North American missionary and naturalized Brazilian citizen has worked in Brazil for 37 years. For 56 years she has been a member in good standing in the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, an international Catholic religious order of approximately two thousand women who work on five continents.

Sister Dorothy is being accused of inciting violence in Anapú, Para, and the surrounding area and of supplying ammunition to the people. These accusations are absurd and false. Sister Dorothy has never encouraged violence and, in fact, has been active in trying to stop the daily
violence in the region.

The congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur supports Sister Dorothy Stang in her ministry with the poor and will take all possible means necessary in her defense.

The Congregational Leadership Team
Sister Camilla Burns, SNDdeN
Sister Maria Delaney, SNDdeN
Sister Rachel Mary Harrington, SNDdeN
Sister MarieAngèle Kitewo, SNDde N
Sister Nancy Wellmeier, SNDde N

The Sisters would also be grateful for expressions of support. You can email them at [email protected] or fax to 55912496942. Please be sure to put your full name and address on your correspondence. Supportive mail from all over the world could be critical in the legal proceedings.

http://www.dominicansisters.com/brazil/curentaffairs.htm

===
Blood Wood

(snip)

In Altamira more activists greet us, eight of them on death lists of some kind. One is a T-shirted American nun in her seventies, Dorothy Stang from Dayton, Ohio. A member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Stang has lived in Brazil since 1966; she's used to the heat, the humidity, and the insects, but not the death threats. "The logging companies work with a threat logic," she says, describing the shadowy magic in which one day a company or rancher will complain about an activist, and the next he'll be gone. "They elaborate a list of leaders, and then a second movement appears to eliminate those people."

Stang says she received her most recent death threat just three days ago, after helping disarm three pistoleiros trying to evict farmers from land claimed by a wealthy rancher. "If I get a stray bullet," the sister says cheerily, "we know exactly who did it."

(snip)

The Pastoral Land Commission, a nongovernmental organization linked to the Catholic Church, estimates that in Pará alone, 475 activists have been assassinated since 1985. In 2001, at least ten Pará social leaders were killed. Most, including Federicci, had signed a letter against government corruption. In October 2001, a list of 24 more Pará leaders who were "marcados para morrer," or marked for death, was published by the Human Rights Commission of Brazil's House of Representatives. It is difficult to track the killings, and dangerous: Leônidas Martins, an Altamira lay worker for the Pastoral Land Commission who collected statistics on Pará killings, was himself threatened with death, as was Zé Geraldo, a political deputy who investigated the crimes.

(snip)

Meanwhile, the murders get grislier: On July 22, 2002, the body of Bartolemeu Morais da Silva, an activist from the Altamira Rural Workers Union, was discovered beside a highway, with both legs broken and 12 gunshot wounds to the head. It was the second assassination in a month.

http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200210/200210_bloodwood_6.adp


===



Logging companies pay around $15 for trees worth thousands of dollars

[Judi Lynn]

7. What a shame the urgent appeal from LAST NOVEMBER by the other nuns

fell unheeded. What a monstrous shame.

Thanks so much for bringing forward this valuable reading for those of us who want to know more, Tinoire.

I really hope President Lula da Silva will be able to find the resources to track the killers down and put them on trial. I'm sure he cares. He's a decent man who doesn't suck up to power interests.

[NeoConsSuck]

8. Thankful nothing like that ever happens here...

in the good old usa!

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/9901/death_david.html

[Swamp Rat]

9. Que triste!

:cry: Esteja na paz.

[Solly Mack]

11. eerily familiar headline...my stomach just lurched back in time

May Dorothy Stang rest in peace.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. This story reminded me of those 5 nuns

that were killed in Liberia in 1992 by rebels loyal to Charles Taylor, Pat Robertson's former business partner.


http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1584/is_n45_v3/ai_13010067


The United States is shocked and appalled to hear of the deaths of five American nuns who were killed in Liberia and condemns this cowardly act.

The nuns were members of the "Precious Blood" order and were based in Gardnersville, a suburb of Monrovia. The fact that these innocent women had no role in Liberia's civil war and were in the country to work with orphaned children and other victims of the conflict makes the killings all the more repugnant. According to Catholic Archbishop Francis in Monrovia, three of the nuns were found at their compound in Gardnersville, and two were found a few miles further north near Barnersville. Heavy fighting has continued in that area since the National Patriotic Front (NPFL) initiated attacks on Monrovia October 15.

Few details are available, but it appears the nuns were killed several days ago in an area that has been under the control of NPFL forces loyal to Charles Taylor. The United States holds the NPFL responsible for the safety of foreign nationals in territory under its control.

[Solly Mack]

13. Yes...and the ones throughout Latin America

The 3 Maryknoll's and Jean Donovan instantly came to my mind.

[LinuxInsurgent]

14. reminds me of what happened in El Salvador

stick to talking about Christ, ladies...it's just not safe to do so in other countries...

Don't get me wrong...I'm Latin American...and I identify with liberation theology and with Latin american radical politics...but...you got to know what you face. You talk...you die. It's that simple.

[Bridget Burke]

26. I'm sure she knew what she faced.

You're a Linux fan. Other people have different values.

[Stunster]

15. Although she was a Brazilian citizen...

has the US State department made any official comment or statement?

Seems like she was living the Gospel of Christ in a way that would put the entire "Religious Right" in America to utter and complete shame.

God welcome you, Sister, and once you get settled in, would you say one for me?

Thanks!

[bling bling]

18. The entire "Religious Right" here is busy....give them a break.

It's hard work feigning imaginary oppression and becoming outraged over people saying "happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."

And they're here fighting the good fight in their own way. Can you imagine what it might be like in a few years without them protecting us from Sponge Bob Squarepants?? *shiver*

[Blue_Tires]

16. anytime someone is killed for speaking out

is terribly tragic

[TygrBright]

17. Yes, and you can bet...

... this will be used as an excuse by those troglodytes at the Vatican to pull more missionaries from where they're needed, just because they're part of the liberation theology "heresy."

All in the name of their own safety, of course.

Nothing to do with Church politics, or dragging the Church back to Pio Nono's day.

No, indeed, just pure altruistic concern for those noble clergy.

Who would be just as happy dying with/for "their" people, and who are desperately need and deeply loved in the obscure villages and settlements where they choose to work.

But we have to "protect" them, you know.

And, incidentally, shut them up.

Mark my words.

prognosticatively,
Bright

[DemBones DemBones]

21. Tygr, if that happens,

then post about it. Posting now is just speculation, and detracts from Sister Dorothy's story.

[AngryOldDem]

27. Your crystal ball needs cleaning.

Read up on some of the orders that live and work in these countries.

Many laypeople also go to these countries and work alongside these clergy and nuns. A prime example, a name that's been mentioned here, is Maryknoll layperson Jean Donovan, who was killed in El Salvador back in 1980 along with three nuns.

I think slain Archbishop Oscar Romero summarized quite eloquently why these missioners choose to do the work that they do:

"Christ invites us not to fear persecution because, believe me, brothers and sisters, the one who is committed to the poor must share the same fate as the poor."

And that means living with the poor, struggling with the poor, working with the poor, and dying with the poor.

In short, doing Christ's work here on earth. So no, they are not going away any time soon.

And..."troglodytes?" Please.

[enki23]

28. clearly, you didn't understand a word of what she wrote

.

[TygrBright]

30. No, apparently you didn't,...

...indeed, understand a word I wrote.

>>"Christ invites us not to fear persecution because, believe me, brothers and sisters, the one who is committed to the poor must share the same fate as the poor."

And that means living with the poor, struggling with the poor, working with the poor, and dying with the poor.

In short, doing Christ's work here on earth. So no, they are not going away any time soon.<<

Exactly, precisely, bingo, yes, that's my point. They don't WANT to go away, regardless of what happened to Sister Dorothy. I am very familiar with these religious orders and their work.

But the Old Men in Red in Rome who are terrified of Liberation Theology and the liberal influence within the church will use this as an excuse to ORDER them to leave.

"For their own safety," of course.

Sadly, it doesn't even really have anything to do with the people who welcome the missionaries among them. Not with their material, spiritual, or even their political needs.

It's all about internal church politics and staving off the growth of any vestige of liberal influence within the church. The well-being of Central and South American peasants will always take a back seat to "the good of the Church" (meaning, its return to the days of Pio Nono.) Romero, missionaries like Sister Dorothy, and the Liberation Theology movement were beginning to build real influence, in a small way.

And this observation is anything but disrespect or a "distraction" from the tragedy of Sister Dorothy's death. Those who truly respect her convictions and the work she was doing know that what really mattered to her was the continuation of the work she and others are doing among the poorest and most marginalized people in the Americas.

She was no fool, and although she and others doing this work would never jeopardize it by open defiance or opposition to the hardline reactionaries in Rome, it has always been a concern of the more liberal missionary orders. Her widely-publicized tragic death presents an opening for that work to be more closely constrained, and it will greatly add to the tragedy if that happens.

The more aware people are of this quiet internal struggle in the Church, the more opportunities there are to publicize and influence its direction, and try to slow the Church's retrograde slide. That would be an excellent tribute to Sister Dorothy's memory, don't you think?

quizzically,
Bright

[burrowowl]

19. Amazing

last Fatima witness got more posts than this heroic nun.
Sometimes I wonder about DU.

[DemBones DemBones]

20. Only because

posters were making fun of Fatima. It's hard to make fun of Sister Dorothy being murdered.

[Judi Lynn]

22. Update from the N.Y. Times

Brazil Promises Crackdown After Nun's Shooting Death
By LARRY ROHTER

Published: February 14, 2005


...Two male associates traveling with Sister Dorothy were spared by the gunmen and are reported to have identified one of the killers. The suspect's name and background have not been disclosed, but the Pastoral Land Commission of the Roman Catholic Church issued a statement saying the killing could have been ordered only by the powerful economic and political interests Sister Dorothy had always fought.
(snip)

Sister Dorothy's killing comes at a time of mounting tension in Pará State. Last month, responding to new government regulation of land use and ownership, loggers blocked highways and rivers, burned buses, threatened to pollute rivers with chemicals and warned that "blood will flow" if Mr. da Silva's government did not suspend decrees they found objectionable.
Early this month, the government acceded to those pressures and rescheduled the timetable for enforcing the regulations. Environmental groups strongly criticized the action, saying it would only encourage more acts of lawlessness in a part of the country where the government's control has always been incomplete and tenuous.

At the moment Sister Dorothy was attacked and killed, the environment minister, Marina Silva, was scheduled to be attending a ceremony to mark the creation of new "extractive reserves" in Pará in which the government put large areas of jungle off limits to ranchers, loggers and land speculators. To some of Sister Dorothy's associates, that suggests that her murder had an even broader political motive.

"The timing wasn't a coincidence, because they could have killed Sister Dorothy anytime they chose," Ms. Souza said. "But they saw they were losing areas, and they wanted to provoke the state and send a warning. Now it is up to the government to defend the principles Sister Dorothy represented."




Carlos Silva/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

Sister Stang in the Amazon forest last year. She recently told a government official about death threats against religious groups and others.





Paulo Santo/Associated Press

A crowd gathered as local people and police officers carried a coffin with the body of Sister Dorothy Stang to waiting car in Anapu, Brazil, Sunday.


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/14/international/americas/14brazil.html?
(Free registration is required)

[DoYouEverWonder]

23. Thanks for the pictures

that last one is so incredibly sad.

This is what we are up against in this world, a bunch a greedy, powerful, murders.

[Judi Lynn]

24. Sad, for sure. Hope we learn there is actually something stronger

in this world than the power these people claim for themselves at someone else's expense.

We've heard there's something stronger. I'd sure love to see the proof.

The people who knew this woman will never forget she dared to care for people in the face of those who don't.

[struggle4progress]

29. kick

[Judi Lynn]

31. Update on this story:Brazilian soldiers deploy to violent region

Feb. 16, 2005, 9:03PM

Brazilian soldiers deploy to violent region
Advocates in the area where a nun was killed say a long-term solution must be found
By MICHAEL ASTOR
Associated Press

ANAPU, BRAZIL - About 2,000 soldiers headed Wednesday to a lawless Amazon jungle region where an American nun was shot to death last weekend amid escalating violence between peasants and loggers vying for the area's vast natural riches.

The troops were sent to restore order hours after thousands of people converged on this remote Amazon town to bury the bullet-riddled body of Dorothy Stang, the 73-year-old nun who was killed trying to defend the jungle where she had lived for decades.
As mourners paid their last respects, a peasant and a former union president were found shot to death in the rural state of Para, where Anapu is located.

Advocates for poor settlers in the region said the soldiers' presence will probably calm tensions for now. But they warned that the violence in Para could easily spiral again without solid steps to resolve the bitter disputes among settlers, land speculators and loggers and ranchers who hire gunmen to eliminate opponents.
(snip)

Hoping to restore order to an area where slave-labor and illegal logging is rife, the troops were to deploy in Anapu, Paraupebas and Altamira, a small city along the Trans-Amazon Highway about 60 miles from Anapu, the official Agencia Brasil news agency reported.
In the latest attacks, assailants gunned down Daniel Soares da Costa, the former president of the Rural Workers Union in Paraupebas, about 210 miles from Anapu. Police said they did not know if there was a connection between his death and Stang's.

In addition, a farmer was found shot to death in an area where Stang had been trying to establish a sustainable development project for poor Brazilians, according to press reports.
(snip)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/headline/world/3043744
(Free registration is required)

What could be more convenient for big logging enterprises? Very few cops or soldiers around to interfere with their intentions. Apparently they've found they do just fine without their "moral compasses," too: just like Nixon's Republican friends. What's more important than bidness, and being able to keep all your "own" money?





Take time to be holy, like W.

[Judi Lynn]

32. Friday update:Brazil Creates Massive Amazon Protection Area After Killing

World: Brazil Creates Massive Amazon Protection Area After Killing of American Nun

1 Hour,45 minutes Ago


: ANAPU, Brazil - Brazil's president ordered the creation of a huge Amazon environmental protection area in a lawless region coveted by soy farmers and ranchers less than a week after an American nun was gunned down trying to protect the jungle from deforestation. Decrees signed Thursday by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will form a reserve of 8.2 million acres and a national park spanning 1.1 million acres in the state of Para, where 73-year-old Dorothy Stang was shot to death in a dispute with a powerful rancher.

"We can't give in to people committing acts of violence," said Environment Minister Marina Silva, who announced the decrees in the capital, Brasilia. "The government is putting the brakes on in front of the predators."
(snip)

Police were searching for the two gunmen and for rancher Vitamiro Goncalves Moura, known as Bida, who authorities say ordered the killing.

Walame Fiado Machado, who is heading the federal police investigation, said he believed the two gunmen were likely hiding in a dense, hard-to-reach stretch of forest near Bida's ranch and that the rancher and an associate may have fled the region in a small plane soon after the murder.
(snip/...)


http://www.keralanext.com/news/indexread.asp?id=120215

[DU GrovelBot]

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