Murder of Brazil official marks new low in war on Amazon environmentalists
Source: Guardian
Murder of Brazil official marks new low in war on Amazon environmentalists
Luiz Alberto Araújo, a local government official in Pará state, was gunned down in front of his family: ‘It sends a message that no one is untouchable’
Matt Sandy in Rio de Janeiro
Monday 24 October 2016 06.00 EDT
It was just after sunset in Altamira, a small town nestled on a curve of the Xingu river in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, when Luiz Alberto Araújo, the secretary for the environment on the city council, arrived home with his family.
Before he could get out of his car, two men on a motorcycle pulled up and the passenger shot seven bullets into the 54-year-old, who was still sitting in the driver’s seat.
The killer got off the bike, opened the car door and shot him twice more. Araújo slumped on to his wife, who was seated beside him. Neither she, nor his two stepchildren, were injured. No attempt was made to steal anything.
The killing, on Thursday 13 October, had all the hallmarks of the sort of assassination that is common in the lawless Pará state, in the eastern Amazon, where illegal logging, clandestine mining and modern slavery are rife.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/24/brazil-amazon-environmentalist-murder-luiz-alberto-araujo
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